Lady Chaos
by Lu Angel
Summary: we'll drink and drink, and drink, and drink, and drink, and drink, and drink, and FIGHT! if god wanted us sober, he'd knock the glass over!" -
1. BayLu, Aldreasa and Chocolate Donuts

I don't own Trigun.  
  
Ok, the beginning may be a little slow but TRUST ME it gets so interesting through the story and funny  
  
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It was quiet and dark at Merry's bar as it usually was. The people of the town were farming folk and never got riled up over anything. A few outsiders sat along the bar counter. A group in the corner whipsered and pointed at one particular man. He was dressed in a red button up shirt with blond spiky hair.  
  
"Excuse me sir" The blond man asked the bartender. "Do you know a Miss Meryl Stryfe? I was told she lived here, but-"   
  
"Yea, I know 'er. She lef jus' dis mornin. Strange woman..." The bartender shook his head as he wiped a glass clean. The spiky haired man's eyes lit up with hope.  
  
"Do you know where she was heading? What city? What direction?" The bartender laughed at his eagerness.  
  
"Slow down, boy. She went ta-"  
  
"Merry!" One of the farmers in the corner cut the bartender off. The blond man turned in his seat to look at the man that yelled. "Don't you tell that Human Disaster a damn thing bout Miss Stryfe" Merry looked confused. "That there's Vash the Stampede." There was complete silence that followed that sentence. A tension filled the air as Vash's ID was revealed.  
  
"Hahahaha..." Vash laughed nervously wondering who would pull their guns out first...the farmers or one of the travelers who were probably bounty hunters.  
  
"Vash da Stampede" Merry said from behind the counter. Vash turned his spiky blond head only to meet the circular end of a wine bottle. "Gift fer ya. Miss Stryfe was headin down ta Flores, right near LR." Vash accepted the wine bottle, picked up his brown poncho adn began walking to the door. He turned back around and waved to Merry.  
  
"Thank you sir, have a nice night." With that Vash the Stampede left Merry's bar with out one bullet shot, one table upturned or one man injured. Vash made a mental note of this phenomenon and would brag to the Insurance girls about it.  
  
##########  
  
"Mum! Can we please stop!? I'm dying of hunger!" The young girl with long blond hair clung to the shoulder of her mother while she drove.  
  
"Lu stop acting like a child! We're almost there." Her mother said sternly. 16 years of dealing with Lu had given her a few gray hairs, but her face was still lovely and smooth. Her dark hair had grown over the years, trailing behind her in the wind.  
  
Lu desperately threw herself on the side of the car door and looked out into the ocean of endless sands. "How come we left Shale in the middle of the school year? You usually wait till I've finished the school year."  
  
"I've explain this over a dozen times Lu! Can't you listen the first 3 times at least?" There was a strong hint of irritation in her voice. Lu sat back in her seat with her arms behind her head.  
  
*sigh* "Millie and Aldy need our help at the orphanage, you miss your old friend who you haven't seen for 3 years-"  
  
"4 years" Her mother corrected, holding up four fingers. Lu rolled her brilliant aqua eyes.  
  
"4 years then...and you want me to attend school with Aldy and make new friends" Her mothernodded, but Lu didn't seem convinced.  
  
"Yes, its important that you learn to keep friends because you'll need them and the orphanage could be shut down if we don't come up with more money. Plus, I need to file these reports for the Bernidalli Insurance Company and I must be sure they arrive in perfect condition. Do you understand?" There was no response. "Lu?" Her mother looked over to see her fast asleep in an awkward position. *sigh* "You can sleep through anything, can't you?"  
  
A young woman with long black hair dressed in blue jeans and a red T-shirt was outside playing with two children. They were playing hopscotch in front of a large run-down white house. The young woman shaded her radiant green eyes to see a rusty car pull into town. A smile broke across her face.  
  
"Mama!" Her long black hair wildly trailed after her as she ran inside the house. The dirty black sneakers stopped in the kitchen doorway. "Mama! Meryl and Lu are here!" Millie was preparing some food on the stove. She wore an apron and had her chestnut hair tied back.  
  
"That's wonderful! Just in time for an early dinner!" She said with a cheery smile. The contents in the pot bgan to boil over and foam.  
  
"Mama..." Her force said in warning, pointing her finger at the stove.  
  
"Oh my!" Millie began rushing around the kitchen. The heel of her shoe slipped on a puddle of water. Landing on her bum, the tall woman winced in pain. Her daughter wlaked over, took the pan and dumped it into the sink, then turned off the stove in a calm matter. She helped her clumsy mother off the floor.  
  
"Thank you! Oh, Aldreasa what would I do with out you?" Millie hugged her daughter warmly. Aldreasa hugged her back.  
  
"Why don't you greet Meryl and Lu while I clean this up, Mama?" She said with a smile across her face. She had the same cheerful smile as her mother.   
  
"Thanks sweety. Its been so long since I've seen Meryl!" Millie took off her apron while walking down the stairs to the front door. Aldreasa looked at the messy kitchen.  
  
*sigh* "How does she manage?"  
  
The batty old car was parked in front of Milli's house. Meryl was taking in the scenery of Flores. Meryl remembered waiting for to return, Milli and the townspeople hitting the water vein and the Vash's return.......She looked over at her daughter who was still awkwardly sleeping. Drool was steadily dripping from the side of her mouth. "Lu." Meryl poked the blond's shoulder. "Lu we're here" She began shaking Lu. "BayLu Catilona wake up this instant!" Her mother demanded, yelling in the sleeping ear. Groaning, Lu pushed away from Meryl and rolled to her side, back facing her mother. Meryl slammed the palm of her hand on the steering wheel. When the horn blew the children in the street jumped. Lu just snored loudly in reply. "You're hopeless..." Meryl said in defeat.  
  
"Meryl!" A tall woman with chesnut hair came running down the steps of her house. Meryl got out of the car.  
  
"Millie!" They embraced, the tall bulky woman towering over the short petite one. Then Milli held Meryl out at arm's length.  
  
"You haven't aged a bit!" Meryl tilted her head, putting on a fake smile. She knew Millie was just being nice...  
  
"Same could be said of you!" They laughed together in happiness. The laughter ceased as Lu made some unintelligible noises as she slept. Meryl sighed and put her hand to her head. "Oh, Lu..."  
  
"Oh my, she's stilla heavy sleeper isn't she?" Millie chime cheerfully. Meryl slumped her shoulders putting her head down.  
  
"Always will be..." Meryl snapped up her head with a bright expression on her face. "How's the orphanage doing?" Milli's face sadened.  
  
"Its been shut down" Meryl frowned "We tried our hardest, but there was nothing we could do. Jimmy and Chuck are the only two children who stayed in town." She looked at the two boys playing in the street. "I'm just hoping some day a good stranger will come along and give them a home." As Millie told the sad story, Lu was tumbling lazily out of the car and crawling up to her mother's leg. Her hand grasped the white pant's leg. The roaring sounds from the blond's stomach were more than audible.  
  
"F-food...must...e..a..t" Lu's face smacked down into the gound, forming a dust cloud. Meryl was not one bit amused by her dramatic entrance.  
  
"Lu..." She said begining to stamp her foot that wasn't being clutched too.  
  
"Why don't you run to the store and get us something for dinner?" Millie suggested with a bright smile. Lu looked up wearily. "I bet they have donuts..." Millie's voice was taunting as she held up a $$10 dollars in her hand. In a quick flash Lu snatched the money from the tall woman's hand and ran down the street leaving a dust trail behind her.  
  
"I bet she's a handful!" Millie giggled lightly.  
  
"You have no idea"  
  
"Just like her fa..." Millie stopped herself before completing the word 'father'. Meryl looked up at her in shock. Millie quickly changed the subject. "Lets get your things inside, shall we?" She said with a real big smile. ^_______^ Meryl forced a smile back and nodded.  
  
Lu was running down the street with the $$10 bill held up in the air. "DOOONUUUTTSS!" She screamed madly, attracting all sorts of attention from the villagers. As Lu ran up to the store, a man dressed in a brown poncho was thrown out of the store. He collided with Lu and they went tumbling in the sand. The man got up and dusted himself off.  
  
"Oh, sorry miss..."He apologized, but Lu didn't even hear him. After her head stopped spinning, she gasped. "What's wrong?" He asked her.  
  
Lu frantically searched the ground. "My money!" The two of them looked for Milli's money. The stranger picked up the bill and dusted it off.  
  
"Here ya go" He said holding it up. Lu's eyes turned all sparkly blue as she took the money.   
  
"Donuts!" Popping to her feet, Lu Stood in an infamous hero 'pose'.   
  
"Donuts?" There was a loud growl from the man's stomach. Lu looked over at him for the first time. He had blond spiky hair, with aqua eyes, wearing an old poncho and looked skronny. "Sorry..."   
  
"We shall dine together!" Lu grabbed his hand and pulled Vash in the store with her. The store clerk gaped sa the spiky headed man entered in a flash.  
  
"Hey!" As the two blonds went by, the clerk's newspapers went flying to the ground. "You! Get out of here!" He screeched at Vash. Vash shrugged his shoulders apologectically smiling. Lu danced over to the counter with a box of donuts in each hand. She held the money in her mouth, leaning over for the clerk to take it. Confused and a little disgusted, the man took it.  
  
"Keep the change sir. Grab some chicken mister!" She chirped to Vash, who was her new found stranger. He smiled nervously while grabbing a chicken. His blond head bowed slightly to tghe clerk as he followed Lu out the doors which he had just recently been thrown out. "Donuts, Donuts, oh lovely donuts!" Lu sang cheerfully as she opened a box. Vash looked over at the food with his tounge sticking out. "Three cream filled with rainbow sprinkles, two chocolate frosted chocolate donuts, four sugared and five glazed..." She said examining the freshly baked pastries. "Here ya go mister!" Lu gave him one box of donuts, keeping one for herself.  
  
"THANKS!" He said stuffing his face full while handing the chicken to her.  
  
"Have a nice day mister!" Lu said, smiling and walking away.  
  
"Hey wait a minute!" Vash called after her with a mouth full of donuts. Lu turned her blond head. "Do you know Miss Meryl Stryfe by chance?" He said sweetly as can be.  
  
"Well, yea...I live with her" Lu said thinking why in hell would this man, a young man at that, be looking for her uptight mother who never spoke to men except her boss and Lu's principal. The stranger's face lit up a new.  
  
"REALLY!?" Vash said with eyes bulging. He finally caught up with her! "Could you tell her to meet me at the bar tonight around 10?" Lu wrinkled her nose...he wanted her to set him up on a date with her mom? She knew this guy wasn't from Bernidalli.   
  
"Sure, uh...what's you name mister?" Vash smiled nervously, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"Haha...uh...well tell her its a surprise from a friend!" He said hurriedly. Lu nodded her head.  
  
"Okie dokie, she'll be there, mister! Cya!" She saluted him and bgan skipping down the street singing about donuts. The young man smiled and finished devouring his box of goodies.  
  
Aldreasa sat on the kitchen floor, exhausted. The room was so clean it sparkled. "That was a handful..." Sighing, she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Her mouth opened wide and let out a yawn. "This deserves a nap..." With that she lay down on the ground, bunching up the apron for a pillow and falling gast asleep.  
  
Millie dropped a box on the wooden floor. "You didn't pack much. Are you planning on leaving again?" Meryl shook her dark hair.  
  
"No! of course not! Lu and I are here to stay. I've decided no more running, no more hiding and no more moving." Millie jumped for joy.  
  
"Yay! That's so wonderful!" She gave her short friend a killer hug. "Since Aldreasa is getting older, I thought I'd be aleft alone! Oh, sempai! We're gonna have so much fun!" Meryl couldn't breath under her friend's grip. Just then they heard the door clicked open.  
  
"Mum! Aunty Mil! I brought some chicken for dinner!" Lu called from the living room. She shut the door with her butt, making it slam shut.  
  
"Ok! you're things are in your room" Meryl called from her room, down the hall. Lu began walking up the stairs to the kitchen, balancing the box of donuts on top of the chicken.  
  
"Thanks!" When she turned to yell, her feet stumbled upon a body on the floor.   
  
"OWE!"  
  
"AHH!"  
  
*Crash*  
  
Meryl and Millie jumped out of the bedroom and to the living room with great speeds. In the kitchen, Lu and Aldreasa lay in a jumble of legs, arms and donuts. "GET OFF OF ME!" Aldreasa shoved Lu off her, making the young girl fall down the stairs.  
  
"Allldy!" Aldreasa watched as Lu rolled down the steps with some donuts. *THUD* Lu landed face first. "Ouchie..." Her blue eyes look at the shoe of her mother's foot. Then finding her mother's eyes, Lu could tell they weren't happy. Lu turned and pointed up the stairs at Aldreasa, who was looking innocently down. "Its Aldy fault! She threw me down the stairs!" Aldreasa's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. Lu smirked at her with out either mother seeing.  
  
"MY FAULT!? You're the one who tripped on me! I didn't do anything. Its your fault!" Aldreasa wasn't getting blamed for this one...whatever it was.  
  
"You were laying on the floor!" Lu spat back.  
  
"I was cleaning!"  
  
"Sounded like you were snoring..." She said sheepishly.  
  
"Girls!" Millie shouted from behind Meryl, instantly getting everyone's attention. "Calm down, its not that serious" Lu stuck her tounge out at Aldreasa. She narrowed her green eyes in response. "Lu, why don't you clean up your donuts while Aldreasa starts cooking the chicken." Milli said in her motherly voice. Millie had learned how to give orders, but still was her old optimistic self.  
  
"Yessum!" Lu saluted her aunty and began cleaning up. Millie smiled sweetly at the blond then looked at her daughter.  
  
"Now Aldreasa, if you were tired you should have gone to bed. Be a little sensible, dear" Her mother turned, with Meryl following close behind.  
  
"Lu, help Aldreasa with dinner once you're done. We're going to finish unpacking." Meryl called back. Lu smiled nervously as she looked over at the red faced, raven haired young woman.  
  
"I LOVE YOU!" She said with a wide grin in an attempt to act innocent. Aldreasa just threw up her arms in fusteration.  
  
"You're such a child! You pulled that stunt when we were 5 years old!" Lu tilted her head, still having the fake smile plastered on her face.  
  
"Which stunt?" Aldreasa picked up a donut and threw it down at the blond girl.  
  
"The one you blame everything on me and GET AWAY WITH IT!" Aldreasa began launching a full attack of donuts down on Lu. Quickly dodging the donuts, Lu jumped behind a sofa.  
  
*SPLAT*  
  
A chocolate frosted donuts stuck to the back of Milli's favorite white chair. Aldreasa's eye twitched as the donut slide gracefully down the back of the chair, staining the white with dark brown. Lu began laughing full force. "WOW! You sure have bad aim!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Aldreasa picked up another donut with sprinkles and was about to throw when her mother's voice came from down the hallway.  
  
"Aldreasa, Lu? Are you two ok?" Meryl called from the bedroom. Aldreasa began panicking, putting down the donut she ran and grabbed a wash cloth from the sink. Millie's footsteps were getting farther down the hallway.  
  
"Lu, distract them! PLZ" Aldreasa begged in a whisper. Lu smiled sheepsihly at her desperate friend. Aldreasa began scrubbing furiously at the chair.  
  
"What do I get?" Aldreasa cut her cold green eyes over at the blond girl.  
  
"You'll get a beating if you don't stop them from entering this room" She said in a bone chilling threat. Lu put up her hands and laughed skittishly.  
  
"Ok, ok...no need to get voilent." She said in a whisper back to the threat. Lu bounced to her feet, intercepting Millie at the door frame to the living room. "Aunty Mil!" Lu said giving Milli a large embrace. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Millie hugged Lu back happily.  
  
"I missed you too!" Millie chimed, completely oblivious to Lu's distraction.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Meryl saw the obvious. She could always smell that Lu was up to something. Call it maternal instinct.  
  
"Oh, mummy dearest" Lu said including her mother in the hug. *BASH* Lu held the top of her head where Meryl had smacked her. Her fist was still raised and Milli was quite surprised at the sudden action.  
  
"What are you hiding" Lu smiled with no worries.  
  
"Well, you see, while I was out getting the wonderful chicken Aldreasa is cooking, I bumped into this strange guy that asked me to deviler a message to you." Lu said in her higher authority voice. Meryl began tapping her foot impatiently as her daughter stalled.  
  
"Millie, go check on Aldreasa" Millie nodded her head and took one step. Lu jumped in front of her, blocking the hallway.   
  
"No! This is really important! You gotta hear this too aunty mil!" Meryl fumed.  
  
"BayLu! You're stopping us from finding out something! That something is going to get you into more trouble if you don't let us by!" Lu hated it when her mother called her by her name, but the blond girl wasn't going to give up. Meryl began trying to push past her daughter. Lu WOULD COMPLETE THE MISSION ALDY HAD GIVEN HER OR BE BEATEN SEVERLY FOR BEING A FAILURE.   
  
"A 'young' blond man told me to tell you to meet him at the bar round 10!" Meryl kept struggling with her daughter. "He had blond spiky hair and he was skronny, but real tall!" Meryl immediately stopped struggling. Lu looked up at her mother. Her eyes off into the distant and face paled as though she had seen a ghost. "Mum?"  
  
"Vash..." She snapped out of her daydreaming and grabbed Lu's shirt collar. "Was his name Vash!? TELL ME NOW!" Meryl was screaming at the top of her lungs, shaking her daughter violently.  
  
"I...dont know" Lu said, her head spinning as her mother stopped shaking her. Her mother stepped back, again her eyes looked far away. 'Talk about mood swings' Lu thought to herself.  
  
"Vash is back..." Meryl said before fainting into darkness.  
  
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Please read more! I BEG YOU! teehee love yas! ^___^ 


	2. Painful Lies

I DO NOT OWN TRIGUN KK? but Lu, Aldy and other ppls r mine teehee  
  
If im not real clear on the writin just ask a ? and i'll asnwer okie dokie?  
  
I will not use net language...but this is the first time every writing on my computer not using net slang so...THANK YOU FOR CLEARING THAT UP FOR ME!!! thanks for compliments guys, helps alot!  
  
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Meryl sat on her bed alone. She had told Millie to help the girls with dinner. She had to think about what to do, what to say and how to say and do. Her world was about to crumble down. It had been crumbling for 16 years, but the downfall was about to come. Meryl had told Lu that her father was dead and now for her to explain that he was very much alive was going to be complicated. Especially the part about her father being the famous outlaw known as Vash the Stampede. How would Vash take it? Meryl had been running from him for a long time...ever since her pregnancy and Knives...  
  
"Knives" Where was he now? Did that pyscho know about Lu? Meryl knew he did. There was no possible way he couldn't know. Could he really have changed like Vash said? No, not him...never. Meryl shook her head. She couldn't spend her time thinking about Knives! Her attention should be focused on how to break the news to Lu and Vash.   
  
"Please Aunty Mil!?" Lu was down on her knees with her hands folded in a prayer. Millie was cutting carrots on the counter as Aldreasa prepared the chicken. "Tell me...purrty sparkling please!" Millie laughed at the blond girl's despair.  
  
"Little Lulu," That was Millie's pet name for Lu, which she didn't mind being called. "You know who Mr. Vash the Stampede is. Don't you remember him coming to play with you when your mommy was away?" Lu wrinkled her nose.  
  
"Not really." A black cat sat in the window sill above the sink. It meowed lightly. Aldreasa turned abruptly from the stove, with a spoon in her hand.  
  
"My goodness! Lu, he's the guy you always called tomato-san because he always wore red." Millie began laughing as a memory flooded into her mind.  
  
"You two went to the Nicholas D. garden one day. When Mr.Vash came home, you egged him with tomatos." Aldreasa and Lu joined in the laughter. "Poor Mr. Vash, that was the day our water had stopped working and he went around smelling like tomatos all day."  
  
"Millie!" The tall woman set down her knife as she heard Meryl call from downstairs.  
  
"Coming, sempai!" Millie began taking her apron off. "Finish up for me Little Lulu" She pet the blond head as if she were a cat then exited down the stairs. Lu slowly stopped laughing and picked up the white apron from the chair.  
  
"What I wanna know is how my mum knows Vash. She wasn't even around when he was there. I remember that." Aldreasa nearly fell to the floor. Her hand grabbed the edge of the stove for support.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me! Didn't Meryl tell you anything about life before us?" Lu shook her head, putting the apron back down on the chair. "My goodness..."  
  
"Tell me the story! Please?" Lu smiled sweetly at her friend. Sighing, Aldreasa began pouring gravy on the chicken.  
  
"Alright."   
  
"YES!" Lu jumped on top of the counter with her hands in her lap ready to listen attentively. She sat indian style while Aldreasa cleared her throat.  
  
"Well, our mothers didn't always just work behind the desks and fill out paper work for Bernidalli..." She told Lu about their mothers chasing the famous outlaw known as Vash the Stampede.  
  
Millie entered Meryl's room quietly. Right away she could tell Meryl's stress level was at max. Meryl's face was scrunched up with brows furrowed in hard concentration. The petite body was tense and her small hands gripped the blankets on her bed. Millie put on a smile. "You called for me, sempai?" Meryl looked up at her tall friend with out her expression changing.  
  
"Millie, I'm not sure what to do..." Meryl searched her friend's eyes hoping to find an answer as Millie looked into Meryl's eyes wishing she could give one.   
  
"I'm sure Mr. Vash won't be upset with you, Meryl. He has a great sense of understandment and I'm sure he'll see why you did what you did." Meryl looked down at the wooden floor. Her boxes were half unpacked and there were various things lying on the floor.  
  
"I know you didn't want me to run from him, Millie. After what happened with Wolfwood..." Millie's smile changed to a sad one. Millie had always wanted Vash and Meryl to live happily ever after, but Meryl had her weaknesses which made her run. Of course Millie disagreed with Meryl's actions because she had a certain way of thinking. Why should Meryl leave her love when he was still right there, living and breathing while Millie sat at home day to day knowing her love wasn't living and breathing...  
  
"Its ok, sempai. We're not the same person with the same ideas and thats what makes us such great friends!" Millie said sitting down on the bed next to Meryl. Meryl smiled.  
  
"Sometimes I wish everyone could see the way you think. Then we wouldn't be such numbskulls who stumble into situations like this..." The smile faded. Millie looked at her grief stricken friend. It hurt her to see Meryl this way.  
  
"Cheer up silly! We gotta pick out what you're going to wear tonight!" Millie jumped from the bed and began digging through Meryl's suitcases and boxes.  
  
"W-what?" Meryl was shocked as she watched Millie hold up different dresses. A red one, blue one, yellow one...  
  
"You have to look perfect for Mr. Vash! You haven't seen eachother in over 13 years! Thats a long, long time!" Meryl was speechless as Millie picked up a pretty white dress and smiled. "This is your night to catch up on things. No worries tonight ok?" Meryl nodded her head and smiled.   
  
"What would I do with out you, Millie?" Meryl said to her dear friend. Millie smiled brightly.  
  
Vash was pacing back and forth in his hotel room. "Ok, Number one, don't get drunk. You act like an airhead and say stupid things when you get drunk. I wouldn't want to blurt out how old she's gotten." Vash stopped pacing and took that into consideration. "Number two, don't say anything about her being old or getting gray hairs, if she has any." He began pacing the floor once again "Number three, try not to act super duper ubelievably heartbroken if she's married, which I pray she isn't!" Vash got down on his knees as he listed number three. "Number four, DO NOT under any circumstance bring up Knives. You'll get a cup full of water splashed right into your face if you mention your brother." Vash looked at himself in the mirror. He wore black dress pants and a white dress shirt. He had his hair spiked up as usual. A smile creased his face as he remembered Meryl calling him broom head.   
  
Then a thought popped into his mind...What if Meryl doesn't show up? She could be packing her things up and leaving town this very moment! Vash began panicking. He hadn't tracked her down while dodging bounty hunters and making sure his brother didn't go homecidal just to be left in the dust again. Grabbing his poncho and forgetting his keys, Vash ran out of the room.  
  
"Wow...your dad died saving an orphanage?" Lu asked amazed. Aldreasa nodded her head. They were sitting at the table now. Lu still giving Aldreasa her 100% undivided attention. The black haired head gave a proud nod. "That's amazing! Who could imagine a priest saving his beloved church and traveling with Vash the Stampede while saving poor little children!"   
  
"You better believe it. He's the reason why my mother and I worked so hard at the orphanage. We even named it after him. Nicholas D. Wolfwood foundation for orphans." Lu's blue eyes sparkled in awe. The timer went off on the oven.   
  
"How did your mum jump right back into the action with Vash after Wolfwood's death?" Aldreasa got up from her chair to open the oven. Lu's eyes followed her as the steam rose from the oven. The sweet smell of tender chicken seized the room, making Lu's mouth water.  
  
"My mother's a strong woman. They had to take care of the Humanoid Typhoon! I doubt anything could take our mothers down." This gave Lu a different opinion of her mother. She wasn't all mean and bitchy for no reason. Her mum had traveled for a year with a famous outlaw! She had to be tough for that. Her mum must've been the authority.   
  
"Go get Meryl and mom, chickens ready." Lu gave her a small salute and made her way out of the kitchen. Her eyes caught the back of Millie's white chair and noticed Aldreasa had gotten most the chocolate off. If you looked carefully you could still see brown stains though...  
  
Meryl was twirling around in the white dress, still surprised at the fact she could fit into the old thing. Her hair was pulled up onto the top of her head. Random strands fell down about her face. Milli had done her best to hide the gray hairs as Meryl instructed. Meryl also wore plain white heels that made her a tiny bit taller and a white pearl necklace around her neck. "You look wonderful, sempai!" Millie said clapping her hands.   
  
"You really think so?" Meryl said straigtening out the skirt which stopped at her knees. Lu began walking quietly up to her mother's door. Easedropping was one of her favorite pastimes.   
  
"Of course! Its beautiful. Mr. Vash will be very impressed." Meryl smiled. She felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach. It was just like the way she usually felt when Vash was mentioned.  
  
"But, Millie...What should I do about Lu? Shouldn't I tell her first?" Meryl's eyebrow furrowed again with stress. Millie shook her head 'no'.  
  
"No, don't worry about Little Lulu. I'm sure she'll take everything just fine. She's very much like Mr. Vash." Lu quickly burst into the room. She wasn't about to let Millie talk her mother into telling her something that she didn't know. Lu certainly didn't want this Vash guy to know something before she did.  
  
"What should you tell me first?" The blond said with great interest. Meryl and Millie both jumped at Lu's unexpected entrance. Millie saw Meryl at a loss of words and smiled.  
  
"Oh, nothing dear!" Millie rose up from the bed. "Lets leave sempai alone before her big date." The tall woman began pushing Lu gently towards the door, but Lu ducked under Millie's arms to stand directly in front of her mother.  
  
"I wanna know first, please!" Lu begged to her mother. Meryl's face was a little frightened, but she nodded at Millie to leave the room. Bowing her chesnut hair, Millie closed the door behind her. "Score!" Lu cheered. Meryl gently took her daughter's arm.   
  
"Come sit down with me, BayLu." Lu immediately snapped out of her go-lucky mood. 'BayLu' meant serious time and/or angry time. She could tell her mother wasn't angry at the moment which meant serious talk.  
  
"I'm scared. What's going on?" The young blond girl said as she and her mother sat down on the bed. Meryl looked into her daughter's radiant blue eyes. They were so much like Vash's and the long blond hair was the same color as the Stampede's. "Mum?" Meryl straightened up. She must stay strong and get the truth out.   
  
"Before you were born, I traveled with Vash the Stampede for the Bernidalli Insurance company, keeping him under 24-hour servalince." Lu waved her hand in the air.  
  
"Aldy already told me about this. Its not that big of a deal, mum. I think its pretty cool that you fought and traveled with the Humanoid Typhoon." Meryl sighed an uneasy sigh.   
  
"Well, over the time I spent with Vash...I...we grew to care about one another...and, uhm, after the battle with Knives-" Lu's jaw dropped open.  
  
"You were in love with Vash the Stampede? That is wack! I never thought you could love a man!" Meryl put her hands on her hips giving her daughter a stern look.  
  
"And how do you think you were born?" Lu gave her mother a weak smile as she looked off into the distance, avoiding eye contact with Meryl. "Now, BayLu."   
  
Oh, boy...there was her full name again. It sent chills down Lu's back making her feel like her mother was about to tell her a life altering thing. What if she was going to be sent away to boot camp or a private school or worse...the Bernidalli Insurance company! Lu turned to her mother with great fears in her eyes. She was giving Lu her life story just before she sent Lu away to a Catholic school to become a nun! Then Meryl would run off with an old boyfriend! (gasp) Lu's mind was ticking nervously with ideas of what was to come next.  
  
"I know I told you that your father was dead, but I know he's alive and doing well..." Lu stopped breathing...hoping she wasn't going to say what the blond girl was thinking. Meryl saw the look in her daughter's eyes. Meryl had never spoken a word about Lu's father, only that he was dead and to be never brought up. What Meryl saw in Lu's blue eyes was a mix of desperation and fear. Not being able to take the look, she threw her arms up. "Ah! Lu, Vash is your father"   
  
'Real smooth, Meryl. Just blurt it out!' Meryl thought to herself as she turned to face the new look on Lu's face. There were tears in those lustrous blue eyes. Were they tears of happiness, saddness, hurt, anger? Meryl couldn't tell. She just wanted to shake Lu and yell at her until she told her what she was feeling.   
  
"Vash..." Lu said quietly almost not believing it. But why shouldn't she believe it? Lu felt the water building in her eyes. Trying her hardest she tried to push them down. They only came harder as she realized what her mother had just said. Turning her face to Meryl, Lu look angrily at her mother. "You...you lied to me?" Meryl was taken aback. It didn't even cross her mind that Lu would even concieve to say that.  
  
"Lu," Meryl said comfortly. She set her delicate hand on Lu's shoulder. Pulling voilently away, Lu stood in front of her mother still refusing to let the tears fall from her eyes.  
  
"You lied to me! All my life! It was a big fat lie!" Meryl had never seen her daughter this upset. Actually, Meryl had never seen her daughter with REAL tears in her eyes. Lu had never yelled like this either. It scared Meryl and it hurt her to see her daughter this way. The silence Lu was getting made her even more pissed. "Why? WHY would you do this to me!? HOW COULD YOU!?"   
  
"I, its hard to explain Lu" Meryl was again at a lost for words. It wasn't the smartest thing to say to her daughter, because this reply made Lu furious.  
  
"You won't even explain to me!?" Lu tensed every single muscle to keep from punching a hole into a wall. The blond didn't get angry often, but when she did it was hard to keep her anger in check. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" She stomped out of her mother's room to the living room. Meryl followed close behind in a desperate attempt to calm her daughter.  
  
"Lu! STOP!" Meryl stood in the archway of the hall. Millie and Aldreasa stood at the top of the stairs hearing the commotion. Lu picked up a pillow from the couch and threw it at her mother. It nailed her square in the face.  
  
"Leave me alone!" She continued her fiery gait through the living room. Meryl re-composed herself from the pillow attack, which to her surprise actually hurt.  
  
"Lu, please, I did what I thought was right! I didn't WANT to lie to you." Lu stopped on the stairs to look her mother in the eyes. What Meryl saw in her daughter's eyes nearly took the life from her. They were nearly glowing blue, the blue Vash's had glown the night of Monev the Gale's attack.  
  
"You didn't WANT to? BUT YOU DID!" Meryl stood her ground trying not to cry at the sight of her daughter. The glow was frightening her.  
  
"Lulu, please settle down." Millie interjected. She had never seen either Meryl or Lu so upset.  
  
"I'm sorry!" Meryl yelled. Lu's temper went down a notch to dim the glowing sensation in her eyes. "There were so many complications with your father that I thought it better-"  
  
"You thought wrong." Lu spit back, her anger once again rising. At that moment, there was a pound on the door. Meryl shot a look at the door that would make it burn. If that was a neighbor coming over because of noise...  
  
"GO AWAY!" She screamed. Meryl didn't need anyone's complaints about noise or whatever the reason was at the door. It was hard enough keeping her daughter from blowing her top.  
  
"Meryl? Its me, Vash. Are you alright?" His voice was concerned. Meryl's breath caught short in her lungs. Vash burst through the door to see a shocked Meryl, who looked just gorgeous as he remembered, but with longer hair.  
  
"Vash..." There he was. The love of her life who had just came bursting through her door at the worst time imaginable. She counldn't breath.  
  
"Oh great! Dad's home!" Lu said before stomping up the stairs. Vash looked from the retreating Lu to Meryl in confusion.  
  
"Daddy?" He asked to no one in particular. Lu pushed past Millie and Aldreasa before they could get out of the way. Meryl took a deep breath as Vash's wandering blue eyes found her. "Meryl?"  
  
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i kno its dramatic, but ya gotta keep reading! 


	3. Bedtime Stories

i dont own trigun (vash, meryl, milli, knives, wolfwood)  
  
The chaps might b a lil slow right now, but i promise they'll get interesting once Lu and Aldy run away!   
  
Thanks for the reviews! i love ya guys!  
  
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Blue eyes fluttered awake in the night. "NIGHT?" Lu shot straight up from bed. Aldreasa was on the other side of the bed dreaming with a stern look on her face. Lu rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched her arms out over her head. Just then she heard Vash's voice from the kitchen.  
  
"There was nothing to be afraid of, Meryl. I promised to protect you." Lu's arms fell down as she remembered the events of the day.  
  
"It wasn't a bad dream..." She groaned. Her feet slid silently on the cold floor. Opening the door gently she slid to the end of the hall to get view of her mother and Vash at the table. Milli was no where ot be seen.   
  
"What were you scared of?" Vash asked with a serious tone. Meryl fiddled with her hands. She looked everywhere besides his face. Vash put his hands on Meryl's to make them stop moving. "Its ok" He assured.  
  
Meryl looked at him in disbelief. "No, its not Vash" Her mother was still in that white dress and her hair was a little out of place but still looked beautiful.  
  
"I've given everything to come and find you. You mean the world to me, Meryl Stryfe, and BayLu too." He laughed and put his arms behind his head. All the sincerity disappeared. "Just didn't think I'd have a daughter when I found you, I was more afraid of you being married!" Meryl smiled.  
  
"She's a lot like you! But...what is she, Vash?" The spiky blond looked stunned by her question. Lu had confusion written all over her face. "Is she human? Are the things that happened to you, going to happen to her? Is knives going to hunt her down? Does he even know? Will he try to use her?" Her questions were overwhelming for Vash. Lu didn't understand what she was talking about.  
  
'What did she mean am I human? What happened to Vash that she's so scared of happening to me? Who the hell is Knives and why would he hunt me down? WHATS GOING ON!?' Lu's silent questions weren't answered. Vash smiled warmly, turning back into his serious side.  
  
"I haven't heard from Knives in 10 years." He took her face in his hand and looked deeply into her eyes. "You have nothing to worry about. Everything is fine. I can protect you." Meryl smiled at him, melting into his earnest words. She took his hands in hers. Vash's lucent blue eyes looked to the floor. "I'm not sure what Lu is or could be...Anything out of the ordinary happen?" Meryl put her hands in her lap looking down.  
  
"Today, her eyes glew like yours did that one night..." Vash knew which night she was talking about. The night the Gun-ho gun had killed so many innocent people just to get Vash.  
  
'My eyes glew?' Lu winced when she heard the strange occurance. The blond girl hadn't even noticed a difference when she was angry. 'I have glowing eyes...' She thought with a lighter attitude. 'wicked'  
  
"She was angry at me...but I really don't want to talk about that." Vash nodded his head in understandment. "When she was little, she woke up screaming and crying because of her head hurting. It seemed her eyes were far away and her body shook, but I remember you having nightmares before." Meryl's face was etched with worry, concern and fear. Vash could only imagine how difficult it was for Meryl to take care of Lu. She didn't understand what Lu was going through. Meryl tried to laugh. "She's just crazy about donuts! Especially cream filled with rainbow sprinkles."   
  
A black cat with large green eyes began playing at Lu's feet, batting at her shoe strings. Lu shooed it away, but it attacked her hand, making Lu jump. It made a loud noise on the wooden floors which made Meryl jump to her feet.  
  
Vash motioned for her to stay as he silently moved out of his chair. Lu quickly ran to Aldreasa's bed with out a sound. Vash opened the door to Aldreasa's room when the cat came scampering out. Vash stared at the sleeping girls as she shut the door, leaving it just a crack open.  
  
"Is everything fine?" Meryl asked a little concerned. All the talk about Knives was getting her edgy. Vash came into the kitchen smiling.  
  
"Just the cat" Vash lied. He knew it was Lu, but wasn't going to say anything. "Lets take a walk" Vash offered his arm to Meryl. She smiled accepting it. Lu lay still until she heard the door click shut behind her mother and Vash. Looking out the window, she watched them walk towards the outskirts of town. Lu sat down cross legged on the bed.  
  
"He thinks he's so smart..." Lu pouted. She looked over at Aldreasa who was soundlessly sleeping. Lu tapped her shoulder. "Aldy? Aldy wake up" Aldreasa's eyes didn't open, but she moaned.  
  
"What is it?" She didn't even bother sitting up and sounded rather annoyed. The dream she was having had a sexy prince and she was his princess. A young childish dream, but she was enjoying it nevertheless.  
  
"Do you know anything about my dad?" Lu asked. Aldreasa groaned and rolled to her side in an attempt to go back to sleep. Lu was about to punch her shoulder when Aldreasa spoke.  
  
"He's an outlaw, Mama used to track him down, friend of my father's." Aldreasa just repeated everything Lu knew. Aldreasa had known all this for a long time, even the part about Vash being her father. Lu could tell that it was no big deal to her friend.  
  
"How did you know about that? I mean bout Vash being my dad?" Aldreasa sighed heavily while rolling back to face the young girl sitting on the edge of her bed.  
  
"Mama told me the day after my 14th birthday. Right after you and Meryl left again. She decided I was grown enough to know the story of my father." Lu's lip pouted. She was 16 and Meryl hadn't told her anything about family. Never a word was spoken about Meryl's family and she was told her father was dead. LAIR!  
  
"So, your mum told you bout your dad then?" Lu asked in a whisper.   
  
"Yea, He was a tall handsome man with jet black hair like mine and dark eyes. He was a Reverend." Aldreasa said proudly. Lu wrinkled her nose.  
  
"A priest?"   
  
"Yes! That's what a Reverend is Lu!" Aldreasa wasn't whispering anymore. "I already told you about this, go to sleep!" The girl with long blond hair didn't get the point of her friend's treading voice.  
  
"Is that all you know?" Lu said, curiousity in her voice. Curiousity killed the cat..."UMPF" A mouth full of feathered pillows knocked Lu right off the bed.  
  
"Get out of my room or go to sleep! I have school in the morning, and so do you." Aldreasa pulled the covers over her yellow pajamas for more warmth. Burying her head in the soft pillow she got ready for the wonderful dreamworld.  
  
"Did Wolfwood ever kill anybody?" Lu blurted out.Aldreasa sprung of her bed and began beating Lu severly with her pillow.   
  
"Lu! You chickenshit! Of course he didn't!" She said inbetween large swings at the blond head. Lu rolled out of her range to hide behind a chair.  
  
"You said he was with my dad and he ain't no saint" Aldreasa chucked the pillow at Lu, only hitting the books on her shelf. "You really do have bad aim..." Lu whispered.  
  
"He was a priest for crying out loud! GIVE IT UP!" Aldreasa climbed back into bed and lay facing the wall. Lu studied her friend's back thinking that Milli might lie to her daughter to keep a good image of her father alive.   
  
"Are you sure?" Lu asked cautiously. Aldreasa threw her pillow which landed on the floor nex to the blond. Aldreasa fell back down to sleep.  
  
"Stop nagging and go to sleep, Lu." She said through clenched teeth. Lu decided to stay quiet for a moment. Her blue eyes studied the designs on the blanket. She looked at the back of Aldreasa's head about to ask something, but closed her mouth. Lu opened it right back up again.  
  
"Are you human?" With that question Aldreasa popped her body straight up on the bed, throwing another pillow at the dumb blond. Which missed.  
  
"IN THE NAME OF THE LORD LU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SMOKING!?" Aldreasa's voice was loud enough for the whole town to hear, but surprisingly it didn't stir Milli. Lu scrunched down a bit at Aldreasa's angry voice.  
  
"I-I dont smoke, but-"  
  
"Get out of my room right now Lu!" Sighing, Lu left the room and headed down the hall to her own. She heard the door to the house open and the voices of Meryl and Vash. Lu watched as they said their goodnights, giving eachother a sweet kiss on the cheek. Lu gagged at her lovey dovey parents. Meryl went down the hall to her room while Vash plopped down on the couch. Lu stood there in the dark house for a moment before taking the daring steps towards Aldreasa's room.  
  
"Aldy?" Her voice was just above a whisper.  
  
"I'm not going to answer your stupid questions!" She replied in a hissed whisper. Lu took a step inside the bedroom.  
  
"Just one more! Please, Aldy. I promise its the last one and then I'll let you sleep." Lu begged leaning over the dark haired girl. Aldreasa sighed deeply as she propped herself up on the bed, facing Lu.  
  
"Promise?" Aldreasa raised her eyebrow to her younger friend. The blond hairs moved slightly as Lu nodded. "Alright, but this is the last and it better be good." Aldreasa closed her eyes for a moment as Lu climbed onto the bed. She bit her lip hoping that her question wouldn't be a stupid one.  
  
"Who's Knives?" She asked queietly not looking at Aldreasa. The green eyes shot open in surprise.  
  
"How do you know that name?" She could feel her skin go pale and the hairs on the back of her neck stand. Lu quietly began stuttering something, but then Aldreasa grabbed her by the shirt collar. "Tell me right now, BayLu" Lu looked away at the sound of her name, but Aldreasa shook her violently.  
  
"I heard my parents talking about him in the kitchen and-" Aldreasa let go of Lu and looked down at nothing in particular.  
  
"Don't ever say that name again or I swear to god, I'll smack you straight across the face, you understand?" Aldreasa's words were threatening and harsh. Lu blinked her eyes in amazement. She hadn't seen Aldreasa this upset in a long time.  
  
"Yes ma'am" She spoke gently. Aldreasa's black hair met the comfort of her pillow, but both green eyes stayed open. You could hear the crickets outside the window. "Aldy?" Lu said in her most compassionate voice.  
  
"What do you want?" Aldreasa answered coldly. Lu took a big gulp and concentrated on the back of Aldreasa's head.  
  
"You never told me who he is..." Aldreasa closed her green eyes to hold back what might have been tears. As she sat up, Lu's hands went up, preparing for another attack, but it never came.  
  
"He's the devil walking on Gunsmoke spreading his disease and sickness among the living. My mother told me that MAN is the reason why my father died defending his church...Mama told me not to blame Knives, but I do." Silence settled in the room as Lu stared at Aldreasa who was looking down at the floor again.  
  
"Is Knives still alive?" Aldreasa nodded her head 'yes'. Tears were beginning to form in her green eyes. She lay back down and covered herself with the blanket. Lu looked down on her friend. She rubbed Aldreasa's shoulder to give some comfort. "I'm sorry, Aldy" Lu got off the bed and picked up a tan back pack, dumping out Aldreasa's books.  
  
"What are you doing?" Aldreasa sniffled as she sat up to watch Lu.  
  
"I'm leaving." Lu stated light-heartedly. She began packing some things in her small pack. Aldreasa was shocked.  
  
"What do you mean? You're just gonna pick up and go?" Lu finished stuffing stuff into the bag, tying up the ends. Then she focused her blue eyes on Aldreasa.  
  
"I'm sick of being lied to. I never get told the whole truth. Haven't you noticed we're told happy stories, lies or bits and pieces of what's really going on? We get a very thin outline of what's going on." Aldreasa shook her head.  
  
"No, that's not true. We're told what we need to hear and nothing more." Lu put her hands on her hips and looked quizzically at her friend.  
  
"You've never wanted to know how your father got mixed up with Vash or why Knives was after the church in the first place? You said they never found his body, maybe he's still alive somewhere!" Aldreasa wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. A large grin spread across the blond's face.  
  
"Come with me?" Lu asked her friend.  
  
"No way!" Aldreasa harshly whispered.  
  
"You know you wanna" Lu taunted.  
  
"We can't just leave! There's planning to a journey...and there's no real point to this one. You just wanna runaway because your life has gotten a little complex!" Lu threw her arm out in front of her.  
  
"No! I'm going out there to find the truth about Mr. Vash the Stampede, my father, and why my mum is so scared of Knives and who the hell this guy is. I know you want to find out what really took your father away from you" Lu was right about Aldreasa wanting to know, but the young christian girl shook her head 'no'. She knew running away wouldn't help.   
  
Lu shrugged her shoulders, "Suit yourself," and began walking to the door. "I'll wait 15 minutes by the fountain. If you're not there by then, I'll be gone." The green eyes held the blue ones. Then with the turn of a head, the blue eyes looked away. The door shut silently behind Lu, leaving Aldreasa along in the room with moonlight shining down on her.  
  
"Oh, Lu..." Aldreasa sighed as she looked out the window into the lonely night. Then her eyes caught the alarm clock on the floor. It read 1:49 a.m.  
  
After picking up a few things from her room, Lu moved throughout the kitchen. She could remember which floor boards squeeked as she grabbed food and water from the cupboards. One cupboard squeeked as she shut it and Lu heard someone move downstairs.  
  
Back straight, body stiffened, her left foot touched lightly on the first stair. She walked upright and tense down all the steps until she stood in the living room. Then she crouched down and began walking to the door. Vash began snoring loudly. Lu grinned and turned around. She walked on her tiptoes over to where Vash slept. She inspected his body carefully then spotted the possession in which she wanted to steal. His gun.  
  
Vash rolled in his sleep murmuring something that Lu couldn't make out. The slender fingers walked across the back of the couch making their way down to his gun holster. She took a deep breath. Carefully, she slid the silver weapon out of the black leather. Vash moved once again, making Lu dash to the darkest corner. She didn't make another move until the reassuring snoring started. Silently, the slim figure cracked open the door and in the same silence, slipped out closing the door behind her with a faint 'click'.   
  
Lu stood on the porch of her aunt's home. She let out her breath and began gasping for air. "Never...held my breath for so long..." After her coughing fit, her finger pointed out into the night. "Onward!" Taking the first step away from home and into the lonely sand of the road, Lu began her way out into Gunsmoke.  
  
**The moon was full in the night sky. Its luminous light outlined a slim figure that sat near a fountain. Wearing a light brown jacket that fell to her thighs, a green shirt and black pocketed pants was Lu. Her green sneakers shifted in the sand as she moved the weight of her pack to the left shoulder. The time on her watch read 2:17 a.m. Sighing heavily, Lu turned to the street that would lead her out of town. "Guess I'll be going solo..."   
  
As she reached the outskirts of town, she could hear the clanking of a car. It was her mother's rickety automobile. "Aw, man...I can't believe she squealed on me!" The car stopped right beside her and to Lu's surprise it wasn't her mother that was driving the car. "ALDY!" Lu squeeled. The black hair was pulled up into a tight pony. Her gloved hands were gripping onto the steering wheel. The tan gloves matched her tan leather jacket, which was zipped up to her neck. In a great pounce Lu gave Aldreasa a tackle hug. "I knew you wouldn't leave me out here all by my lonesome!"  
  
"Lu! Get off me!" The blond girl let go of her friend as she hopped into the passenger's seat throwing her bag in the back. "I couldn't let you run wild and get into all sorts of trouble. Only god knows what mayhem you'll start."   
  
"Aw...come on, Aldly. You wanted an adventure that would satisfy your thirst for knowledge and TROOOOTH!" Lu said as she took a pose. Aldreasa slammed on the gas smacking Lu back into her seat. "Ouchie"  
  
"Its more like babysitting because I'm not the kind of girl with the thirst for adventuring." Aldreasa's words were harsh to Lu's poor little ears. The blue-eyed girl just made the most cute, heart-warming face known to man kind.  
  
"Your heart will not lie to my ears, young raven haired lady." Lu stood up in her seat and opened her arms out to the desert. "There is truth everywhere on Gunsmoke! CAN YOU HEAR IT CALLING OUR NAMES!?"   
  
"Yea, yea, that's great. Now where are we heading?" Lu put a finger to her mouth, still standing up on her seat.  
  
"I dunno" Aldreasa slammed on the breaks making Lu fly over the windshield into a tumbling heap of sand. The girl's body landed more than 10 meters from the car. Lu's head was spinning drastically. Aldreasa stood up from her seat.  
  
"What do you mean you don't know!? You expect to run until you bump into a town?" Lu could barely hear what her friend was yelling at her. She tried standing up, but fell right back down.  
  
"Wowsers..." Lu's world was fading black.   
  
"BAYLU CATILONA STRYFE!" Not even Lu's entirely full name brought her around.  
  
"Suki, Suki, AIRPLANE!" Those were her last words as Lu slipped into the world of unconciousness.  
  
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okie dokie the next chappie is gonna have an outlaw named Mad Dog terrorising a village, are the chapters to short or to long? 


	4. Mad Dog

Tazo-Yea I get what you mean bout Vash always havin a girl, never a boi.  
  
angelarms- Thanks for reviewing after every chapter! u rule!   
  
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Black boots paced back and forth through the living room. Vash was trying to figure out what he should do about the girls running away. 'I should tell Meryl right away or she'll get pissed and I'll get a new bump. If I keep quiet about it then I won't get hurt.' Vash smiled. 'But if she finds out I know they left...' Vash imagined Meryl strangling him. "Scary" His smile faded and he stopped dead in his tracks. "I must report to the mother of my daughter!" He said to boost his courage.  
  
As Vash reached Meryl's door, the courage evaporated. He melted into a small puddle of a man at the foot of her door. "I need a plan..." He whispered to himself. 'I could run in all upset...or maybe...'  
  
Vash's 'planning' went on for a hours. "Aha!" He said, snapping to quick attention. "I will tell the nice Insurance lady down the hall. She never gets angry!" The blond marched down to Millie's room and was about to knock on her door when he had a click in his mind. "Wouldn't the nice Insurance lady be upset that the only daughter of her dead love ran away?" Vash jumped as he heard monestrous snoring come from Milli's room. The thought of the tall woman with moster fangs and tenticals chasing after him sent chills down his body. Vash cautiously and slowly moved away from the door.  
  
Back on the couch in the living room, Vash sat down defeated by fear. "I'm one of the most wanted and feared outlaws on this planet. But I'm scared out of my PANTS to tell 2 ladies that their only daughters have ran away..."  
  
"WHAT!?" Vash jumped behind the couch at the sound of an angry woman's voice. Slowly poking his head over the couch he saw a very furious Meryl clutching onto the door frame. Her teeth were clenched tight and her eyes were furrowed. Vash smiled nervously.  
  
"Iloveyou" He said quickly while keeping his biggest fake smile. Millie came down the hall, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She yawned loudly.  
  
"Oh, Meryl what are you doing up?" She asked as she closed her green eyes.  
  
"Broom head just let our daughters RUN AWAY!" Meryl pointed accusingly at Vash. Millie's jaw dropped down far. Vash put his hands up as though he were being arrested.   
  
"There's no need for name calling, is there?" Vash was scared out of his wits. He'd been in a situation with two angry women before and it didn't turn out pretty.  
  
"Mr. Vash is right Meryl." Vash sighed with relief. "It wasn't Mr. Vash's fault the girls ran away. We can go find them" Thank goodness for Millie, she was Vash's life saver. "Which way were they heading Mr. Vash?" Millie asked in her usual spirited voice, but it was a little shaky. Vash knew he could always count on the big Insurance lady not to get upset.  
  
"It looked like they were heading towards Brena or Sydney" Millie smiled cheerfulyl and patted her dear friend on the shoulder.  
  
"See, everything's going to be fine, we'll just take the car and go after them." Millie chimed. Meryl loosened up to her friend's words. The same words made the blood drain from Vash's face.  
  
"I guess you're right, Millie. We'll catch them before they can reach the desert." Meryl said positively.  
  
"Theytookthecar" Vash said in a hurry as he tried to zap out of the room. Meryl was on top of Vash before he could move, choking the life out of him. Millie did the famous sweat drop as the small angry woman began shaking Vash violently.  
  
"You let OUR ONLY DAUGHTER run off where KNIVES could kill her!" Meryl's face was bright red and fuming with steams.  
  
"Meryl! Calm down! I'm sure Mr. Vash is willing to go and find them. We could go too, together!" Millie piped excitedly. Vash smirked, not listening to the big lady.  
  
"This brings back memories, eh Meryl?" He was talking about the position the two were in on the floor. A great SMACK was heard through the house. Meryl hastily walked out of the room blushing furiously while a red hand print began to form on Vash's face.  
  
"Now Mr. Vash, I think you deserved that." Millie said as matter-of-factly. She put her hands on her hips as Vash rubbed the sore spot on his face. "I also think you should go find us a car while Meryl calms down. I'll get things packed and ready while you're out." Vash made a small puppy dog face with big eyes.  
  
"But, Miss Insurance lady I don't have any money." He couldn't believe that Millie could be in charge at times. He decided that she would usually let Meryl be in charge because of her over-demanding character.  
  
"Alright, I'll get us a car while you calm down Meryl, ok?" Millie said it so gayly that Vash immediately got her point. The blond man took off out the door, grabbing his poncho and disappearing into the morning dew.  
  
"WAKE UP KID!" A boot came in contact with Lu's stomach.   
  
"Lu!" Aldreasa cried. Her blue eyes opened only to stare into the bright sun. Lu could tell they were still in the desert, the warm sand underneath her body while the sun beat down relentlessly. When her eyes focused she saw an ugly, dirty and ill-dressed man standing over her. He reaked of sweat and ale. His hair was unkept and he hadn't shaved in weeks.  
  
"Yucky! Get away! You STINK!" Lu pushed the ugly man away from her as she skampered over by Aldreasa. She only got wacked in the back by a spiky object that pierced through her skin, but she didn't cry out.  
  
"Lu!" Aldreasa caught her friend as she tumbled into her arms. "Are you ok?" Lu held her head, and oh boy, did her head hurt and spin.  
  
"What's going on?" The boot that had woken Lu stood in front of her. Her blue eyes looked up to meet that ugly face. He spit to the side, hitting a farmer in the face. Lu hadn't noticed him, but he had been caught while the gang of 4 stopped Aldreasa. His horse and wagon stood to the side tattered from an attack.  
  
"You're getting robbed little lady." He said leaning in. The cylinder of a gun clicked drawing Lu to look right. One of the ugly man's henchman was holding Vash's silver gun. Its barrel was pointed at the farmer. Lu jumped to her feet, but the ugly man kicked her back down. "What are YOU doing?" He chuckled. A devilish smirk crossed the young girl's face.  
  
"Getting my gun back." Before he knew what she said, his feet had fallen from underneath him and his face was in the sand. Aldreasa was quick on her feet, kneeing men in their uh-oh places and getting them in a hold. Lu quickly abandoned the ugly, stinky man who woke her up and headed towards his henchman that held Vash's gun. A shot fired off as Lu hit the man in the jaw with her fist. Hitting him in the chest with the back of her wrist, the henchman fell to the ground. The cylinder clicked once again, but this time in the hands of Lu.  
  
"Don't move!" The ugly man had gotten up from the dusty ground and was holding the farmer. In his left hand was a roughly made gun, its barrel pointed at the farmer. "Stand down" Aldreasa let go of the two men she was holding, while Lu stood still. "Drop the gun!" He spat at her. Lu tossed the gun to the ground as the henchman rose, picking up Vash's gun.  
  
"Bitch" He hit her with the butt-end across the face. Lu spun to the ground by the force of the blow. Aldreasa made an attempt to go to Lu, but was pulled back by her hair. The ugly leader walked over to Lu, pressing his foot against her skull. The farmer had been slammed against the side of Meryl's car.  
  
"You must not know who I am, kid." More pressure from his foot weighted on Lu's head. "I'm Mad Dog. Don't try to mess with me again. You'll regret it, kid." A dust cloud caught Aldreasa's attention as her head was yanked back yet again by her hair.   
  
"Boss, someone's coming." Mad Dog gave a wicked grin as he lifted his foot from Lu's head. "Should we kill them?" Mad Dog pulled his leg back, then slammed his foot against Lu's skull. Her world tumbled into darkness, yet again. 


	5. AHH! ITS GONE!

Okie dokie, just saying i really don't own Trigun and that applies through all the chapters ok?   
  
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Vash was having a hard time finding a car with only $$20, so he decided to end his efforts and go ask the nice insurance ladies to pitch in some money for a vehicle. He'd ask Millie first, because Meryl was a cheapskate who didn't like to waste any money. Sighing, Vash walked back to the white house as the sun reached the breaking point between morning and afternoon.  
  
Aldreasa sat at Lu's bedside. The blond's head was wrapped in a white bandage. The farmer that had been held captive with them brought Aldreasa and Lu to his home. His wife, Mrs. Tucker, was kind and caring to Lu's injuries. They also had three children, a girl and two boys, who were very curious about Lu and Aldreasa. Mr. Tucker had explained who Mad Dog was. A shameful man who had once lived in the small village of Brena. He had a farm and a family once, but they were all taken away from him. Mr. Tucker was uneasy about the subject and didn't want to discuss it further. Aldreasa wouldn't press and was greatful the man let them in his home. There was a light tap on the door.  
  
"Come in, please" Aldreasa said as a woman with long black hair and pale blue eyes came in the door. She had a sad smile on her face as she saw Lu still resting on the bed.   
  
"Aldreasa, dinner is ready if you'd like to join us." Aldreasa looked over at her sleeping friend, then nodded her head.  
  
"Thank you, Mrs. Tucker. I'd be delighted to join you." Aldreasa followed the woman as she led her to the kitchen. Lu's condition hadn't improved over the day, but Aldreasa wouldn't let herself fret over her friend constantly. As they turned into the dinning room, Aldreasa's green eyes met with those of young man. He was handsome with dark blond curly hair and tan skin.   
  
"Oh, this is my nephew, Gabriel Josek. Gabe, this is Aldreasa Thompson, the one of the young ladies who saved my life today." Gabriel smiled brightly as his kind brown eyes looked at the young woman.   
  
"Mr. Tucker, I didn't save your life." Aldreasa said modestly. The farmer chuckled, rising from his seat at the table.  
  
"Come, come now. Those bandits would've killed me in the end if you two hadn't tumbled along." He escourted Aldreasa to her seat, next to Gabriel. "My wife's cooking is delicious and I'm sure you'll like it."  
  
"I'm sure I will, sir" Aldreasa said politely. Just then the three children came roaring into the room. Joseph and Quame followed by the only daughter, Cynthia. The boys were twins, and looked much like their mother with black hair and pale blue eyes. Cynthia took more of her father with her midnight black hair and dark brown eyes that were almost black.  
  
"Slow down there!" Mr. Tucker said, picking up his daughter and setting her in a chair. "We have guests tonight! So mind your manners."  
  
"I will papa" Cynthia said, smiling at her father. Mrs. Tucker came in the room carrying two pans full of cheesy lasanga.  
  
"There we go." Mrs. Tucker said, while setting the steaming food on the round table. She took her place next to her husband, across from Aldreasa. "Would you do the honors of saying grace, Miss Aldreasa?"   
  
"I'd be glad to." She said with a smile.  
  
Lu lay silently on the bed, deep in slumber. A black kitten came through her window and onto the bed. It carefully stepped on the blankets to Lu's hand. The cat licked her hand until the blue eyes opened. The ceiling came in as blur and Lu closed her eyes once again. 'Where am I?'  
  
"So, where are you from, Aldreasa?" Mrs. Tucker asked to get some conversation going at the table. Aldreasa looked up from her plate.  
  
"Flores, near LR. Its not a large town, but not as small as Brena." She said smiling.  
  
"Why are you here Brena?" Gabriel asked. Aldreasa took a small glance at the young man. He was sure handsome with that curly hair.  
  
"Oh, just doing a little traveling." She said, not knowing what else to say really.   
  
"Traveling? At your age? You seem quite young, especially your friend that's with you." Mrs. Tucker said in her gentle voice.   
  
"Well, Gabriel's only 19 and he's been doing an awful lot of traveling since he was 13. I wouldn't be so shocked if these young ladies decided to explore Gunsmoke." Mr. Tucker said, saving Aldreasa's butt.  
  
"You can certainly handle yourself if Mad Dog didn't kill you." Gabriel said to Aldreasa. She felt uneasy when he looked at her. She hadn't been around a boy this cute in awhile, not since her last boyfriend.  
  
"Wow, you must be real strong" One of the twins said, Aldreasa thought it was Quame.  
  
"Yea! I hope I can be like you when I grow up." Cynthia said. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker laughed at their children's simple amazement.   
  
"Just stay close to your family and love the Lord with all your heart. They're the most dearest things in life." Aldreasa said, looking down at her food. The children nodded to Aldreasa's words as though they held countless means of wisdom. Gabriel could hear the saddness in her voice when no one else did.  
  
Lu was sitting up in bed now. Her back ached from the whip that slashed her back and her head throbbed from the boot of that man. "Mad Dog" He had Vash's gun and Lu wouldn't let him keep it. Lu put on her green tattered shirt eventhough her back wasn't bandaged and there were blood stains on it. Lu carefully took the bandage off her head. There was only a small stain of crimson as she looked at the white cloth. Her fingers felt the scrab on the back of her head. "Its not that bad" She said, getting up from the bed. "People over-exaggerate on small things" Lu slipped out of the room into the hallway. "Now, to find Aldreasa and get back dad's gun."   
  
Aldreasa was sitting on the porch with Mr. Tucker and Gabriel. Mrs. Tucker had insisted that Aldreasa not do kitchen work and take time to rest. Mr. Tucker was smoking a cigarette, and Aldreasa sure would want one, but resisted the nicotine. "So, the orphanage in Flores has been shut down?" Aldreasa nodded her head. "That's a damn shame. It was a good place for lost children and the homeless."   
  
"Yes, Mama and I loved that place. It reminded Mama of my father." Mr. Tucker leaned back in his chair, exhaling the smoke.  
  
"Your father was a good man, don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise." Aldreasa was surprised that the farmer had known her father and she looked up at him with wandering eyes.  
  
"Daddy!" Quame and Joseph stood by the door. "Mama wants you!" Sighing, Mr. Tucker got up.  
  
"Excuse me." He said as he left Gabriel and Aldreasa alone on the front porch. Gabriel waited until the door shut to start conversing.  
  
"Why was the orphanage shut down?" He asked.  
  
"Well, Mama and I weren't making enough money to keep it running. The mayor said we were attracting too many stray kids, so every month it cost us more to have the orphanage in town. There was no way to keep up with the payments unless my Mama wanted to work a third job." Gabriel smiled at her.  
  
"If you needed money why didn't you ask? I'm sure if I heard about the orphanage needing some it would still be running today." Aldreasa looked at him confused. Was this guy really that nice just to give money to a small orphanage.  
  
"Why would you care?" She said suddenly. "I'm not trying to be rude Mr. Josek, but-" Gabriel laughed warmly flashing his brilliant smile at her.  
  
"Mr. Josek? Come on, Aldy. Don't you remember me? I was an orphan once, but you and your mother found my family. We used to play hopscotch and Peter Pan. You were Wendy and I was Peter." Aldreasa smiled, remembering when the two had played with fake swords. She laughed.  
  
"Do you remember when Lu tried to jump off the roof and fly?" The both laughed. "She had to stay inside for weeks while her leg healed, Miss Meryl was so angry with her." The door slammed open revealing Lu with a twin on each leg.   
  
"Aldy!" She stumbled onto the porch and Aldreasa was on her feet to catch the blond. "We gotta find Mr. StinkyUglyman!" Gabriel shooed Quame and Joseph back inside the house.  
  
"Lu, what are you talking about?" Aldreasa set Lu down in the chair she was sitting on.  
  
"He took Vash's gun, and I'm not gonna let him keep it. Vash would kill me!" Aldreasa's green eyes got big. She grabbed onto Lu's shirt collar.  
  
"You stole Vash's gun!?" Understand this, Aldreasa was a polite, kind and caring person, but when it came to Lu she just lost her cool.  
  
"Well, secretly borrowed" Aldreasa sighed, letting go of Lu. "I'll give it back, eventually...but I gotta find that ugly guy!" Her friend sat down in the swinging bench, next to Gabriel. Lu just noticed him. "Who's that?" She said with a sly smile.  
  
"Gabriel Josek, he used to go to the orphanage when we were kids." Lu eyed him up and down with a funny look on her face.  
  
"Nope, don't remember him."   
  
"Aldy was Wendy, you were Tinkerbell and I was Peter Pan." Lu smiled.  
  
"I remember! Aldy had the biggest crush on you! That's why she always wanted to be Wendy, so you two would always hold hands and get to be Mother and Father together." Aldreasa jumped to her feet and covered Lu's big mouth before she could say more. Her face was blushing.  
  
"Lu, I think that blow to the head effected your brain!" Lu began pushing Aldreasa away from her but couldn't. So, Lu decided to lick Aldreasa's hand and with success it grossed the young woman out. "That's disgusting!" Gabriel was laughing as Aldreasa wiped her hand on her pants. Mr. Tucker came out.  
  
"I thought I heard another voice out here. Glad to see you're awake Miss BayLu." He said smiling. Lu wrinkled her nose. BAYLU, ugly name, just like that ugly man that had taken Vash's gun!  
  
"I have been nursed back to health!" Lu jumped from her seat giving a strong man pose. "I must avenge my honor and retrieve my father's gun!" The blond began skipping out into the desert.   
  
"Lu! Wait!" Aldreasa took off, running after her. "You can't go after Mad Dog by yourself!" Lu jumped into the car, searching for the keys. She couldn't find them. So she dove out of the car, tackling Aldreasa's legs.   
  
"You must come with me dark haired lady! For I cannot drive and have no keys!" Aldreasa barely kept her balance as her legs were squeezed.  
  
"Lu," She sighed. "We don't even know where to look and we're low on gas" Lu gave her sad puppy dog eyes that Aldreasa just couldn't resist. "Oh, please Lu. Don't do that." The blond snuggled her head up to Aldreasa's leg being as cute as possible.  
  
"We can take my truck." Gabriel said out of nowhere. Lu looked up from her begging at the brown eyed young man who was holding his keys.  
  
"Fun!" Lu skampered into the back of the gray truck. Gabriel started the engine as Aldreasa climbed in the passenger's seat.  
  
"Are you sure about this? I mean, you might get hurt..." Concern etched her green eyes. Gabriel gave her a comforting smile. She loved his smiles.  
  
"I'd feel a lot better if I knew what you were doing out here, instead of just wondering." Those words were heart warming to Aldreasa's ears.   
  
'He's such a sweety' Her thoughts were interrupted by Lu, bursting open the back windows.  
  
"Can we go already!? Mr. Stinkyuglyman is gonna get away and I'll never ever find daddy's gun!" Gabriel gassed the car gently so Lu wouldn't fly back. She grabbed the window.  
  
"I know where Mad Dog and his men hide. They're usually in the caves just outside the village, its where they keep the stuff they steal from travelers." Aldreasa looked at the curly haired man wondering why he knew this. Lu on the other hand, was just thrilled to know where the criminal was so she could get her gun back.  
  
The sun was setting in the desert, outlining three figures trudging along in the sand. "What I wouldn't give for a donut or two right now..." Vash's stomach growled as he walked behind the Insurance Ladies. Meryl turned around with an angry fist.  
  
"Its YOUR fault we're out here in the first place!"  
  
"And the second." Millie piped up. Their $$50 car had broken down in the middle of the desert. They had spent an hour trying to fix it, but the rickety car had exploded in their faces. Now, here they were making their way across the sand to the town called Sydney.  
  
"I'm sorry" His blue eyes looked down at the ground. The girls stopped and studied the poor man. Meryl found sympathy for him. Here he was, the great Humanoid Typhoon, trekking across the desert to find his only daughter, who he had just met yesterday while buying donuts. Vash had been traveling the desert for about 10 years looking for Meryl, the only he had really loved in his life and this is where he ends up.  
  
"I'm sure you are Mr. Vash" Millie said in a not so kind voice. Meryl's eyes softened as she walked over to the blond spiky haired man. Surprisingly, Meryl put her hand on Vash's shoulder.  
  
"Its ok" His blue eyes looked up to find hers. "You've tried your hardest ever since you got here. I'm proud of you, Vash" She said this to him in her kindest voice while giving him a sentimental smile as his eyes bega to ear up. Suddenly, Vash gave her a giant hug.  
  
"That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me!" He said through a waterworks of over-exaggerated tears. SMACK! Millie sighed as Vash fell face first into the sand with Meryl standing over him with her fist raised. "Ow..."  
  
"You didn't have to mob me you freak!" Meryl's voice had gone from kind to ferocious. Vash smiled apologetically to the short tempered woman. She snorted and began walking once again. Millie went over to Vash and helped him to his feet.  
  
"Are you alright Mr. Vash?" Vash dusted himself off.  
  
"She hasn't changed one bit" He put his hands in his pockets. The blue eyes bulged out as the stared into his empty pockets and gun holster. "AHH! ITS GONE!" The two girls looked at him with confused faces.  
  
"What did you lose now?" Meryl asked as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Vash began searching the ground around him after examining every one of his pockets.  
  
"My gun! Its not here!" He was now digging frantically into the sand, burrowing a hole into the ground. Vash had made a large dust cloud and couldn't be seen. Meryl and Millie fell to the ground.  
  
"How could he lose his gun?" Millie asked, looking at the dumbfounded Meryl.  
  
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Next chapter, Aldreasa, Lu and Gabriel stand up to Mad Dog, learning a littl about his past and celebrating his capture! 


	6. Drink up, Drink up!

dont own trigun  
  
There's action in this chapter! never written a fight scene or ne thing so tell me what ya think pulz!  
  
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"Ok, Lu. Now what are you going to do?" It was getting dark out and the night was cooling. Lu was dressed in Gabriel's black coat he had in the truck. Her long blond hair was pulled back away of her face.  
  
"I'm just gonna sneak in and get the gun and leave right away with out getting caught cause we don't want a fight." Aldreasa nodded her head. Lu knew that's not the way it would turn out.  
  
"Good job. Please be careful. I don't want you getting hurt, ok?" Lu saluted her as she jumped down from the rocks they were hidden behind.  
  
"Yessum! Will do" She moved silently through the fading light into the caves Gabriel had showed them. Aldreasa sighed, nervous for her friend. She felt the warmth of Gabriel's hand on her own, making her blush.  
  
"Don't worry, Aldy. She'll be fine." He said to reassure her, but it didn't help. Over and over they had gone through different plans. Lu insisted she went alone and Gabriel supported her choice. It was safer and quicker if only one went in. Besides, he wasn't sure Aldreasa could handle being stealthy and running if they were caught.   
  
Lu crept silently through the muggy caves. Her nose tingled at the stench of rotting flesh and acids from the lower caverns. She saw the dim light and heard faint voices from farther down. Climbing up the rocks to get a bird's eye view, Lu saw Mad Dog and only one other man. There were carts of random things in the room. Cheap women's jewelry, hay, rotten food, dead animal carcasses, and clothing were stacked all together. Lu began scanning through the junk from above for Vash's gun.  
  
"Why'd you let those bitches go, MD? We could've had some good fun with them!" The henchman said with a sick laugh. Mad Dog cut his eyes at his friend. "I mean, we didn't get anything useful from them. That gun was a piece of shit. It shoots like a dead bastard." Lu kept looking over the room for the piece of shit gun the man was talking about.  
  
"They were just kids, Henry. Not much older than your daughters were when-" Henry punched Mad Dog as hard as he could. Mad Dog fell to the ground with an evil grin on his face. He enjoyed making his men feel pain. The same pain he had when he lost his family.   
  
"Fuck you MD, I don't need your shit anymore." Henry stormed out of the cavern into another. Mad Dog rose from the ground to follow Henry. The room was empty Lu dropped down from her cliff with out a sound. As she dropped, a glint of silver caught the corner of her eye. Standing up, she reached into the pile of junk to pull out the gun. She accidently let the pile of lost treasures fall over, making a very loud crash.  
  
"Opsie daisies..." There was a thumping as Lu turned to face Henry. She smiled nervously, getting up to run. Shots fired off as Mad Dog made his entrance. Lu ducked behind a rock as the bullets flew. Checking the barrel of her gun, there were only three bullets. "Great..." She grumbled, tucking the gun away. Deciding to do this with out the gun, she picked up a rock nearby. Rolling to another boulder, Lu hurtled the rock into Mad Dog's shooting hand. The gun fell to the ground as Mad Dog's hand bleed.  
  
"Bitch!" Henry slipped into the shadows, letting Mad Dog take care of the intruder himself. He was secretly wishing the girl would kill the nasty criminal. Another rock hit Mad Dog in his temple, sending him to the ground. Lu began to walk over, while Mad Dog was getting to his feet. As the criminal pulled out another gun, Lu kicked it out of his hand, then sent a blow to his stomach. She grabbed his head and slammed his ugly face into her knee, breaking his nose. Mad Dog fell back in agony, the blood gushing from his nose. "Wench! How do you expect to get out of here? My men are all over this place!" Lu pulled out Vash's gun and held it to the man's forehead.  
  
"You only have three men" Mad Dog looked into her fierce blue eyes with out doubt. "I have men of my own" Lu said in her taunting voice.  
  
Aldreasa and Gabriel had heard the shots fired and were racing towards the cave entrance in no time. The guards weren't expecting someone to come straight on. Their backs were turned as the two came silently up. Aldreasa picked up a metal rod near a chair, hitting a man across the head with it, as Gabriel put the sleeper on the other guard.  
  
"You won't get out of here alive, kid" Mad Dog sneered at Lu who was still holding the silver gun to his forehead. Lu gave him a silly laugh, putting the gun away.  
  
"Mr. Stinkuglyman, I'm just here to get my gun back! I don't want no more trouble, alrighty?" She said patting the criminal on his shoulder. This made the man furious. He tried to punch her, but Lu stepped backwards. Every punch he threw, Lu was just a little faster than him. Aldreasa and Gabriel ran into the cavern, so Lu tripped Mad Dog onto his back. He didn't try to get back up. "Okie dokie, lets go"   
  
"Grab Mad Dog. We'll take him into the sheriff." Lu looked over at him a little confused. They had said earlier to just runaway if there was a fight. Gabriel noticed her look and began to explain. "If we take Mad Dog to the sheriff we'd be doing Brena a huge favor. The Tuckers won't have to worry everytime my uncle leaves for Sydney or Flores. Maybe you could use some of the bounty money to get the orphanage." Aldreasa smiled at that thought.  
  
"No" Everyone jumped at Henry's voice. His face was sadden and his voice was gentle. He had come out of the shadows now, but Lu had always known he was there. "Please let me take MD to the sheriff. I would like to repent for the crimes I commited in any way." Gabriel and Aldreasa were on their guard, but Lu had lowered hers down. "I was yellow when I went to join MD and start this...this...idioticy!" His hands were clenched into balls. "My daughters were only 12 and 15 when they were burned alive while I was away. I've tried to forget and just let my anger out on others, but I can't do it. MD told me to just forget the warmth of love and become cold, but I couldn't do it..." Smiling, Lu walked over to Henry who was fighting back his tears.  
  
"Lu!" Aldreasa almost ran after her, but Gabriel caught her by the arm. Henry looked up at the blond girl, seeing her beautiful blue eyes for the first time. To his surprised, the young girl hugged him. Henry cried, something he hadn't done in a long time. Aldreasa and Gabriel were a little stunned. Mad Dog heard and watched everything. It made his eyes fierce with anger. Grabbing his abondoned gun, Mad Dog took aim at Lu's back.  
  
The gun clicked as the bullet loaded. Before Aldreasa or Gaberiel could move, the shot was fired and then another with out hesitation. The sounds of bones cracking sounded through the cavern as Aldreasa swung the metal rod at Mad Dog's arm. Gabriel put his foot in the small of the criminal's back, making him fall to the ground. Lu looked at her hands in horror as she let go of Henry. They were covered in red blood. Henry had turned at the last second, taking the bullet for the young girl.  
  
"No" Lu whispered in fear. The henchman's body had fallen limp and Lu eased him down to the ground. Henry was choking on his own blood and tried to tell Lu something, but his words were lost. Lu smiled kindly. "Yes, you'll see them." His eyes stayed open to stare into death. A single tear slid down Lu's cheek falling onto the dead man's face. Stunned, she touched her face feeling the wetness. Was she really crying?  
  
"Filthy bastard, that's what you get for double-crossing me!" A bullet from Lu's gun blew rocks shards up from the ground in front of Mad Dog. He was stabbed in the left eye by rock, making him bleed. "Fuck!" Lu was still leaning over Henry's body, looking at the dead man with Vash's gun aimed at Mad Dog.  
  
"Don't you have any appreciation for life?" Lu said cooly with hidden anger. Gabriel kept his foot pressed against Mad Dog's back as Aldreasa walked over to the blond.  
  
"We should go" A hand grasped Lu's shoulder, giving comfort. Aldreasa was stunned as the blue eyes found her. She then smiled. "Tears" She said wiping the tear streak on Lu's cheek. "Lets go home" She said helping her friend up. Lu pushed her away, standing up on her own.  
  
"No..." Her blue eyes looked over at Mad Dog, who was struggling in pain on the floor. She smiled brightly at the criminal. "Well, I guess we'll just have to turn in Mr. Stinkyuglyman ouselves!" Gabriel smiled at Lu's change in spirit. Aldreasa also smiled, but it was a sad smile.  
  
That night...  
  
"When the glass if full!" Lu sang/screamed, jumping onto the bartop while spilling all over.  
  
"DRINK UP! DRINK UP!" The chorus of villagers sang. "If God wanted us sober,"   
  
"He'd knock the glass over!" Lu dove off the bartop, the villagers catching her. Aldreasa, Gabriel and Mrs. Tucker sat at a round table, laughing at the blond girl. This was Lu's first drinking experience. The villagers   
  
cheered as they paraded Lu around the room.  
  
"She sure is full of life, that one!" Mrs. Tucker said, taking a drink of her own whiskey. Mr. Tucker was among the crowd of villagers, carrying the singing blond. Aldreasa took a small sip of the sour liquor, she wasn't a fan of beer or whiskey.  
  
"I must thank you again for your hospitality, Mrs. Tucker." Mrs. Tucker shook her head gently as another wave of cheers sang up.  
  
"Aldreasa! You don't have to thank me. I should be thanking you for taking care of Mad Dog! You three youngsters have done a great deed for Brena. Oh! Here they come!" The mob of villagers set Lu down in front of the table. Her smile was huge on her red face.  
  
"A toast to Henry!" Everyone raised their cups, cheering. "A man a once knew" Lu said a little more sadly. Everyone bowed their heads in a moment of silence. "If drinking beer, could bring him back here, I'd drink the damn place dry!" She said in her sing songy voice, bringing the brightness back into the room.  
  
"I'd drink the damn place dry!" Everyone echoed, picking Lu up once again. Gabriel laughed, putting his arm around Aldreasa's shoulders.  
  
"See! She's sure enjoying herself!" Aldreasa laughed with him, not annoyed by his arm around her. Suddenly an image flashed incoherently in her mind and everything was silent. It was Lu's glowing blue eyes, the eyes that haunted her since the arguement with Meryl. Another flash of Knives's psychotic smile clouded her mind as Lu fell to the ground, dead by a gun shot.   
  
"DRINK UP! DRINK UP!" Aldreasa's mind came back to the tavern. She looked around hurriedly wondering what had just happened. Mrs. Tucker saw the look on the young girl's face and was concerned.  
  
"Aldreasa? Are you ok?" Mrs. Tucker yelled into Aldreasa's ear. The dark haired girl smiled weakly.  
  
"I think Lu and I should be heading out now" She yelled back. Mrs. Tucker nodded and then tapped Gabriel to go fetch Lu. The two women made their way through the crowd of villagers to the door. It was a tough crowd, and Aldreasa had been pushed, shoved and spilled on before getting to the door. Outside, she took a deep breath in.  
  
"A quiet village can become quite rowdy when a hero shows up" Mrs. Tucker said sweetly, adjusting her hair. Not 2 seconds later Gabriel came through the door, dragging Lu by her green shirt collar.  
  
"Drink up! Drink up!" Lu sang to the crowd as the door shut. She looked rather disappointed at being dragged out of HER party. "Whassa going on?"  
  
"We're heading to Sydney tonight" Aldreasa explained. Lu looked up at her a little confused, but smiled gayly.  
  
"Alrighty then, lets proceed!" She said taking one giant step towards the road. Her balance was off and before someone could catch her, Lu fell to the sandy ground. Aldreasa knelt down and began smaking Lu's face gently.  
  
"She's out cold..." Aldreasa said sighing. "Help me get her to the car" Each taking one arm, Gabriel and Aldreasa dragged Lu to her feet, but she did not wake. As they went down the steps, Aldreasa bowed her black hair to Mrs. Tucker. "Thank you again for putting up with us, Mrs. Tucker"  
  
"Heavens child! How many times must you say such things?" They exchanged smiles. "As my thank you, Gabriel will escourt you to Sydney. He's due back any how" Aldreasa tried not to smile, but a small grin creaped out.  
  
"I'd be happy to go with you. Goodnight Mrs. Tucker" The house wife bowed her head slightly as the three began the strange waltz to the car.  
  
"Goodnight, children. Safe journey..."  
  
  
  
  
  
There was a small fire lit in the middle of the desert. Millie was sleeping soundly near the fire while Meryl was sitting and shivering. Her thoughts were drifting towards her daughter. What was happening to Lu? Could she be in trouble or is she sleeping soundly in the car? Perhaps she found a hotel to stay in for the night. Whatever the case, Meryl bet it was better than staying out in the freezing desert, alone.  
  
"Meryl?" His voice startled her, making her jump. Vash sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on the fire. "Why did you run? You never answered me when I asked you last night. You changed the subject."  
  
'Damn, he had noticed." Meryl thought to herself. She had so carefully turned their talking to Lu that night. It was going to be hard for her to explain because she didn't want to hurt Vash's feelings. "Vash I, I don't know what to say really..." She found his brilliant blue eyes looking into hers. He moved in and kissed her sweetly. The kiss was gentle and soft just like their first kiss had been.  
  
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I kno its a weird way to end the chap. but im not sure what to add next and stuff and that's the way its gonna b! the song is bits and pieaces of an Irish drinkin song. HAPPY NEW YEARS, thanks for ur reviews! 


	7. Oo

i no own trigun  
  
Thanks angelarms for reviewing! ur such a sweetheart! and thanks to everyone else! you guys rawk. ENJOY the new chappie  
  
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Aqua blue eyes fluttered awake as they rested on a rickety cot. Lu sat up and rubbed her blond head. "Ouchie..." As she swung her legs to the side of the bed, the room began to spin and her stomach began to rumble. Putting her hands over her mouth and stomach, she tried not to barf. A great BURP came from her, which people from downstairs at the inn could hear. "Yuck!" Lu said with her tounge laying out of her mouth. The taste in her mouth was grimy and sickening. "It must be the beer..." The blond head stuck itself out the window to look at the sun. "Its about noonish. Time for LUNCH!" Lu yelled as she ran out the door. Just as she turned the corner, the small girl bumped into a young man.  
  
"Hey-wwooooooaaa!" Gabriel grabbed Lu's arm as he fell backwards down the stairs. In a tangle of legs, arms and blond hair, the two landed at the bottom of the steps. Everyone directed their attention to the pair. Aldreasa saw them while she was sitting in a nearby corner. She covered her face in embarrassment.  
  
"Lu..." The young blond poked her head up as she heard her name. She looked over at Aldreasa who had a very disappointed look on her face. Trying to act innocent, Lu gave her a flashy smile.  
  
"Good morning Aldy!" The dark haired girl walked over to her friends.  
  
"Would you get off him already!" Aldreasa grabbed Lu by the arm, pulling her to her feet. Lu got up, tripping over her own feet and hitting Gabriel in the head.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"I'm really sorry, Gabriel. You'll have to exucse her, she's an idiot." She said, sneering at LU. Gabriel got up, dusting himself off.  
  
"I am NOT an idiot, you...idiot!" Aldreasa gave her a motherly stare down that always made Lu cringe and want to run for dear life. It reminded her too much of Meryl.  
  
"Its alright, I'm fine." Gabriel said breaking the ice. Aldreasa gave him a concerned look, but Lu smiled and patted him on the back roughly.  
  
"See Aldy? No sweat! We're just peachy keen!" The curly haired man winced as Lu repeatidly smacked his back. Aldreasa hit Lu over the head, giving her a new bump. "Ouchie! What ya do that for?" She whined. Aldreasa gave a flirtatious smile for Gabriel, ignoring Lu.  
  
"We'll treat you to lunch for all the trouble you've gone through for us. Sound good?" Gabriel smiled back at her.  
  
"You just wanna flir-" Green cold eyes shot a death glare at Lu that made her stop in her sentence. Lu giggled nervously. "Never mind! Lets go get some food!"  
  
"I know this great place to eat. The cook is the best around." Aldreasa followed behind the cute blond as her insane friend danced around the two of them singing one of her silly songs about food. Everyone at the inn watched with disgusted interest as the young people left the room. Then they turned their heads back to drinks and chess games.   
  
Out in the desert...  
  
Vash was walking ahead of Meryl and Millie, thinking about what he had heard in Meryl's head last night. There were so many incoherent thoughts and jumbled words that it was hard for Vash to understand anything, but he had gotten the information he wanted. It guilted him to invade someone's privacy like that. He needed to know the truth though and Meryl wouldn't ever tell him.   
  
'How could I have been so blind!?' Vash clenched his fist. 'The reason why Meryl left was because of Knives, but me too. I was always going back and forth to Knives and Meryl. I'd be gone for weeks or months before coming home. It hurt Meryl everytime she had to watch me turn my back and leave. I guess it was just easier for her to turn and leave herself. And then Knives and his painful words to her. I missed out on so much because of him! My own brother kept me away from my Meryl and my daughter...'   
  
Vash turned around and looked at the two insurance girls. Millie was humming a little tune, looking all about the desert as though every inch was interesting. Meryl was staring down at the ground lost in her own thoughts about Vash and her daughter. 'My Meryl' Vash couldn't believe there was a time when him and the Insurance girl hadn't known the love they had for one another. He smiled, looking in front of him. 'I'll change and make up for what I've missed. I promise you, Meryl.'  
  
'I promise you, Meryl' Vash's voice whispered in Meryl's head, interrupting her thoughts of last night's kisses. She looked up at the man walking in front of her, leading the way to her daughter. 'Our daughter' She corrected herself. The Insurance girl smiled. Vash smiled as well.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Millie's voice broke through the thinking. Vash turned around, laughing.  
  
"Not quite, but I'm sure we'll reach it by morning if we don't stop tonight." Meryl sighed deeply.  
  
"I don't remember Sydney being this far away, Vash." The petie woman said with much irritation. A nervous laugh escaped Vash as he scratched his head.  
  
"Well, I kind of lead us in the wrong direction after the car blew up." Meryl stopped and took three deep breaths. Millie pounced on Vash and shook him before Meryl could say a word.  
  
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US! I WANT TO SEE MY DAUGHTER NOW!" Meryl's eyes bulged out and Vash was just as surprised as her. Millie let go of Vash as she noticed what she was doing. "Oh, I'm sorry to have raised my voice, Mr. Vash. Uhm, lets keep walking if we want to make it before morning!" The tall woman said, walking ahead. Meryl and Vash exchanged looks of amazement as they followed suit behind the strange woman.  
  
Gabriel, followed by Lu and Aldreasa walked into Josek's bar. Gabriel had his hands in his pocket whistling a tune to Lu's blabbering song. Aldreasa walked in very uptight. The bar wasn't that clean or brightly lit. There was a thick layer of smoke in the air. Her green eyes caught a man in the back smoking away at his long pipe. From underneath a large hat, cold dark eyes watched both girls carefully.  
  
"What'd it be, gals?" The bartender asked, breaking Aldreasa's train of thought.  
  
"They're with me, Josek." Gabriel told the man as he headed into the back room. The bartender smiled wickedly, examining the two young ladies. The one with dark hair and paled skin sat quietly and gently into her chair at the bar. But the other, who was blond and had brilliant blue eyes jumped in her seat spinning around like a five year old child.  
  
"Well, aren't you two an odd pair? How did Gabe manage to get you gals to come here with him?" Aldreasa just smiled kindly at the man. She was about to explain when Lu interjected.  
  
"Well, ya see, Me and Aldy were drivin along on the open road when this horrible gang of nasty men and their leader, Mr. Stinkuglyman,-" Aldreasa rolled her eyes.  
  
"Mad Dog" She said under her breath, but Lu didn't pay attention.   
  
"He took my dad's gun so we HAD to get it back!" Gabriel began putting on his apron behind the counter. "So, after I healed from getting popped in the head at the Tucker's farm, I ran out of the house to find Aldy. I found her on the porch with Gabey" She pointed at the curly haired young man as he began frying hamburger on the stove. "They were talkin about Peter Pan and Wendy and Tinkerbell. We used to play that when we were all kids at the orphanage..." Lu continued to tell her story with much excitement about Mad Dog and Henry as Aldreasa began talking to Gabriel.  
  
"So, you're the great cook here?" Aldreasa asked with a charming smile. Gabriel shot the same smile back at her. 'He's so cute' She thought in her head.  
  
"I've been a kitchen boy ever since I left the orphanage. Uncle Josek owns the bar and always makes sure I'm working and not getting into trouble." The hamburger sizzled on the frying pan. Aldreasa's radiant green eyes watched carefully. 'Wow, she's gorgeous.'  
  
"I guess my mother tried to keep me out of trouble, but when you live in a growing city like Flores it gets tough." Aldreasa sighed. "Mother helped me stay out of trouble, but whenever I got caught up in it, Lu was there to rescue me."  
  
"Lu?" Gabriel asked not believing it. Lu stopped talking to Uncle Josek, hearing her name.  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"Nothing, keep telling your story." Aldreasa instructed with the wave of her heand.  
  
"Okie dokie! So, after we turned Mr. Stinkyuglyman in..."   
  
"How could SHE help YOU get out of trouble?" Gabriel asked pointing his spatula at the blond girl who was now making strange actions to her story. Aldreasa giggled.  
  
"I know it may sound a little funny, but she knows how to stand up for herself and others. Don't you remember how she always kept us out of trouble from my mama and Meryl?" Gabriel tossed the burgers up, catching them on buns. He prepared to put lettuce, tomato, cheese and the essentials on them.  
  
"Ya know, I do. Its just hard to remember all the strong points of her when you see her stumbling around and being the kid she is." He came around the front and set the plates of fries and cheesburgers in front of Lu and Aldreasa.  
  
"Yummie!" Lu immediately began digging in, still telling her story to Uncle Josek only with a mouth full. " My number on the bar was just awesome! I had every villagers dancing and singing..." Aldreasa shook her head, picking up her delicious looking burger.  
  
"So, why did you leave mother? I thought you and her got along" Aldreasa kept her gaze on the curly haired man as he took of his apron. She could just simply say that her baka decided to run off into the desert and she was there to keep watch. Aldreasa knew that wasn't the whole part of it.  
  
'Do I really want to know about my father? Is that why I left my mother?' Her green eyes studied the burger she hadn't bitten into yet. 'Lu's insane blabbering about finding truth must've gotten to me.' She smiled at the mere thought.   
  
"On the house gals." Josek set two large glasses of alcohol on the counter for the two girls. Lu immediately began chugging the harsh liquor. "My specialty" The bartender said with a grin. Aldreasa gasped at Lu.  
  
"BayLu!" The blond girl didn't let her glass down until the whole thing had been guzzled. The bartender laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.  
  
"Haven't met too many people who could down the whole drink in one breath." Lu set down her cup and burped a bubble. She smiled happily. Aldreasa shook her head and before she knew it, Lu grabbed her glass and began inhaling it.  
  
"What do you think you're doing!?" Lu stopped and set down the cup. She had a foam mustache around her lips.  
  
"You weren't gonna drink it were you?" Aldreasa sighed heavily and Lu smiled before continuing drinking the rest. Gabriel watched in amazement while Lu drank away.  
  
"Wow, she must have a very high tolerance for alcohol..." Uncle Josek put out tow more cups of his 'specialty' for Lu. The petite girl smiled and buried her face in the cups. Aldreasa painfully looked over at her friend.  
  
"I guess she found something other than donuts..."  
  
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BAR FIGHT for the next chappie! Lu shoots for the first time! there's another death and a new guy. A secret revealed about Lu too...well if ya wanna call it a secret? o well!  
  
LOVE AND PEACE 


	8. Josek's Specialty

i can't own trigun EVER.  
  
This chappie has the Nebraska brothers, part of the new nebraska family. They're not as tough as the old one or so weird looking, plus an old friend of Vash's helps out the girls.  
  
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"37!" A bell rang at the number. There was a large crowd in the usually peaceful bar. They were all crowded around the young blond girl who sat drinking large cups of Josek's 'specialty'. There were also men passed out on the floor.   
  
"Bring on -hic- 38!" The drunk girl in the green T-shirt announced.  
  
"This kids gonna break the record!"  
  
"$$20 says she can't!"  
  
"$$35 says she can!" The bets rang throughout the Josek bar.  
  
"Go for it Lu!"  
  
"Here ya go kid!" Josek set another glass on the counter in front of the 16 year old girl. Lu spun around and picked up the cup. She held it up to the men in the room.  
  
"Here's to all you fine gentlemen here tonight! -Hic- Thanks for -hic- cheering me on!" All the men raised their glasses as the girl guzzled yet another cup. She had been making dedications with each drink since number 7. The first toast was to her bar stool for holding her up. Aldreasa was sitting in the back of the bar with Gabriel. It was night outside and there were some clouds in the sky, which was rather breath taking.  
  
"Lu sure knows how to draw a crowd." Gabriel said as he laughed at Lu's drunkenness. Aldreasa sighed and swished her tea around with a spoon.  
  
"I'm surprised she hasn't passed out yet. The only way she'd have this kind of tolerance is if all her donuts had been spiked." That made Gabriel laugh. They had been conversing since 1:00 and learned a lot about each other. The dark haired girl had told Gabriel tons about her childhood after he left. Aldreasa also told him that she wasn't too surprised when Lu had taken down Mad Dog. The girl always got picked on for being so petite. She even told Gabriel aobut her father, but only a little. There was a strong relationship growing between the two.  
  
The bell rang on the door as a group of 4 men came in. From their looks it seemed they had a long and rough day. Some men in the bar recognized them and slipped out.  
  
"Here it is boys! Number 41! The record breaker!" Josek announcedThe girl slugglishly grabbed the cup and jumped on top of the bar. She held the cup up to the men who had just walked in.  
  
"A toast! To the guys -hic- who arrived just in time to witness history! -hic-" Most of the crowd went silent as the group of 4 men walked further in. They had a man with shaggy gray hair and blue eyes tied up. The drunks stumbled out of the bar and the crowd vanished in a matter of seconds. Gabriel's muscles tensed as his eyes followed the newcomers. Aldreasa looked over and saw the man in the corner with his pipe. He and Lu were the only ones that seemed calm in this situation.  
  
"Lu sit down..." Josek whipsered to the young drunk standing upon the bar counter. She shook her blond head and refused.  
  
"No, this is number 41! To the record!" She bellowed out just before putting the glass to her mouth. A gun shot rang out as the cup in Lu's hands shattered to pieces, making the girl fall back on her butt. Aldreasa began to get up, but Gabriel stopped her.  
  
"Don't" He warned. Aldreasa looked over at the filthy men who were advancing to the bar.  
  
"Who the hell do you think -hic- you are!?" Lu said tapping the man in his very muscular chest with her index finger. Her head didn't even reach his shoulders. "I was about to break the record, -hic- you dope!" The man smiled at her with missing teeth.  
  
"I am Big" Lu laughed idiotically.  
  
"Yea you are! -hic- I'm small!" Big seemed a little annoyed by the blond.  
  
"We're the Nebraska Brothers." The rest of the men smiled with gritty or no teeth. Aldreasa's mother had told her a story about Mr. Vash facing the Nebraska family years ago. All the muscles in the black haired girl's body tightened. "These are my brothers, Young, Short and Tall." Lu snickered. What goofy names!  
  
"Well, -hic- I'm an only child." She told the man as if they were having a regular conversation. Aldreasa stood up and walked over to the bar. Gabriel tried to pull her back, but the determination in her green eyes did not heed to his words. Her hand grabbed the back of Lu's shirt.  
  
"Let's stop bothering this man now, Lu and come over here to this nice little corner." Aldreasa said sweetly trying to pull Lu along to where Gabriel was sitting.  
  
"Just a moment little miss." The large man grabbed Aldreasa's wrist. "We need some entertainment as we celebrate our great capture of the Crimson Flame!" The rest of his group cheered as they hit the gray haired young man. Aldreasa raised an eyebrow with no idea of who they were talking about.  
  
"That's not the Crimson Flame!" Lu yelled at them from behind Aldreasa. The group of men quieted down and their eyes turned cold once again.  
  
"What would you know, little girl?" Short asked with ice in his voice. Lu casually walked over to them. Aldreasa tried to stop her, but Big forced her to sit on a bar stool.  
  
"Well, his hair is a lot shorted and not as dark." Lu explained to them as she swatted at the boy's hair, who pulled away from her. "And just look at his eyes! -hic- They're not as deeply blue as the REAL Crimson Flame's." All the men looked at their hostage. "His eyes are bluer like mine." Lu pointed her finger at her aqua blue eyes. Once again the men studied her corrections. "This boys -hic- a little too short to be him." Lu said as she patted the young man on the top of his head even though he was taller than her.  
  
"Yea, Big. I do remember the Crimson Flame being a lot taller than this guy." The Young brother confessed. The other Nebraska brothers mumbled in agreement. Big was getting upset, actually he was already pissed.  
  
"Are you numbskulls gonna listen to this kid or your own blood!?" Lu turned on the man, with drunken anger.  
  
"I am not a kid! You butt head! Do you even have a brain in there?" She stood on tip toes to hit the man in the forehead. "How could you mistake this guy for Turk Millions!?" Big grabbed Lu by the throat, lifting her feet off the ground.   
  
"You got a a big mouth kid. Its gonna get you killed today." Lu's hands grabbed onto the big man's arm as she gasped for breath. The Nebraska brothers began cheering and banging their fists on the tables. Gabriel got up to intervine.  
  
"Put her down." Aldreasa said calmly putting a small gun to the back of Big's head. It was a smaller version of Millie's stun gun. She had taken it from her mother's room just in case they got into a situation like this. Everyone went silent and motionless as tension grew in the air.  
  
"Try your luck." The large man challenged her in reply. Aldreasa hand shook. Everyone in the room was tense save for the man in the shadows with his pipe watching the whole scene from the shadows.  
  
"Aldy..." Lu was near passing out when Aldreasa shot the man in the shoulder. His arm fell limply to his side as Lu landed on her knees grasping for air to fill her empty lungs.  
  
"Bitch!" Big turned to swing at the black haired girl. All he caught was air as she ducked down and hit his knees from underneath him. Lu rolled to the side as the large man fell. The Nebraska brothers drew their guns. Aldreasa jumped behind the bar with Josek while Lu rolled behind a flipped over table. Gabriel was forced to keep refuge in his corner behind another table. The mistaken Crimson Flame dove into the kitchen.  
  
Bullet began to fill the air in chaos. Josek was loading a rifle while Aldreasa covered her head from falling glass. Josek swung the barrel of the rifle over the counter shooting at the Nebraska brothers. Young was making his way towards the bar with out a gun. With her black hair flying behind her, Aldreasa attacked him. Luckily, her mother's idea of kung fu had come in handy.  
  
While they spared, Lu dove to another table while shooting her father's gun at Big and the other two brothers. One of the bullets hit Tall in the collar bone while Short dove to Lu's abandoned upturned table. The smaller brother threw his guns away. Opening his coat, Short revealed over fifty throwing stars and knives. Pulling 4 stars from his coat he threw them all at once towards Josek. The bartender fell back behind the bar with 2 stars embbeded in his skin. One in his shoulder and the other in his chest. Big threw up a larger table to hide behind while he reloaded his gun. Lu kept shooting at Big, making wood chips fly.  
  
The Nebraska brother Aldreasa was fighting pulled out a katana sword. She dodged his attacks, but one swing came a little too close ripping the clothing at her stomach. The man smiled through yellow teeth. "Not bad, darling." She spun around picking up a broom to defend herself, knocking Young against the head. Blood ran down his temple, but he only lost his footing. Giving an evil grin, Young renewed his attack.  
  
The fake Crimson Flame had his ropes off and was now over by Josek behind the bar. The gray haired boy was about to pull the stars out of him. Instead of letting the boy help him, Josek shoved the rifle in his face. "Help them out, kid." His pale blue eyes intensified as the gun was held out to him.  
  
The Short brother threw two kinves at Lu who was firing at the table Big was behind. She avoided the one hurdling towards her head, but the other grazed her across the arm. She ducked down behind the table, her arm bleeding. Big began firing rounds off at Lu's table. The bullets chipped it away to almost nothing. Lu picked up a nearby knife that had been thrown at her. She rolled to her right throwing it at Big. The knife hit him in the hand forcing him to drop the gun.   
  
Time began to slow as Lu's eyes caught the pale blue ones aiming with a rifle behind the bar. She followed them to her left as two silver stars came rushing towards her. Two shot rang off knocking one of the stars away from her. Lu dropped to her back, letting the other star graze her cheeck and then engrafting itself into the wooden wall. Kipping to her feet Lu shot Short twice, one bullet in each arm leaving him powerless. Lu would've shot a third bullet into the man's leg, but her cylinder was empty. She shook Vash's gun. "Stupid thing! WORK!"  
  
Aldreasa was having troubles keeping up with Young's sword. Her clothing was cut up with blood stains seeping it. A blow came down and she couldn't deflect it. The katana sliced the broom into two pieces forcing her to the floor. She sat waiting for the final blow when a bullet rang from a rifle knocking the sword from the wielder. Another shot hit the man square in the chest. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The young man with gray hair and pale blue eyes stood up holding the rifle in both hands.  
  
"Drop your gun!" Big had a gun barrel held directly at Lu's back. The girl smiled nervously. The young man threw his gun to the ground next to Josek. "Good boy. You!" He yelled at Gabriel who was still 'hiding' in his corner.  
  
"Me?" He asked pointing to himself.  
  
"Get over by her!" Gabriel walked over by Aldreasa. "You too boy!" The paled eyes were intense as he did what he was told and stood by Aldreasa.  
  
"Let her go, and the sheriff won't be hearing about your part in this." Gabriel offered to Big with cold brown eyes. Big laughed as he pulled out another gun and pointed it at the blond man.  
  
"You won't live long enough to tell the sheriff, pretty boy." His eyes grew with fear as the gun was pointed at him. Lu quickly knocked the gun out of Big's hand, moving to the side just as the other gun fired. One bullet went past Gabriels' head, hitting the wall. The other went straight through Lu's right shoulder, making her falter towards the ground. She reached for Vash's gun with the other arm. "Stupid kid!"  
  
Big pointed his gun at Lu. Aldreasa turned her head away as the last gunshot sounded in her ears. To everyone's surprise Big fell to the ground. Lu stared, terrified as his body lay in his own blood. The young woman leaned over the Nebraska brother and began applying pressure to the bullet wound in his back. The long barrel of a revolver pointed at Lu's blond head. Big choked and coughed on his own blood before his eyes did not blink as the last breath escaped his lungs. Lu's fingers couldn't feel the pulse in the man's body.  
  
"You killed a man..." Her blue eyes turned to look up the barrel at the man that had been in the corner smoking his pipe since the girls entered the bar. Their eyes looked in deep within each other's minds. The innocent pure blue eyes staring deep within the lifeless black gleam of the stranger.  
  
"Where'd you get that gun?" He said rather calmly as though he weren't holding a gun to her head and nothing important was going on. Lu was angered at first, but then she looked down at the gun she held in her hand. When had she even picked it up?  
  
"My father." She stated. Aldreasa started to say something, but kept quiet. The man and Lu looked at the door, hearing someone outside. His dark eyes looked over at the three in the corner.  
  
"Follow me." He said, moving to the back door and concealing his weapon once again beneath the dark trench coat. Gabriel grabbed Aldreasa's arm just as she began to follow.  
  
"You're always welcome here, Aldy." She smiled back at him warmly before leaving out the back door. Just as the door shut behind her the sheriff came in through the bar entrance.  
  
"What in the sam hell happened here?" The deputy appeared shortly after. His eyebrows raised at the mess in the bar. Gabriel smiled as he saw Josek stand up from behind the counter.  
  
"Things just got a little out of hand here, sheriff." Josek said gruffly. A shelf fell from behind the bar and Gabriel smiled nervously.  
  
Aldreasa had to stop while running after the others. "Wait..." She called after them breathlessly. Lu was the only to stop. She went over to her wounded friend. Aldreasa was gasping for breath. Lu sighed and picked her up, carrying her on her back.  
  
"Where would you be without me?" Lu asked her dark haired friend as the blond began running after the two strangers that had saved their lives. Aldreasa smirked.  
  
"I'd probably be at home asleep, dreaming of my perfect man that would be sweeping me off my feet." Aldreasa said light-heartedly. Lu smiled wearily at her friend's mood. The pain from the bullet wound was excruciating, but she kept going none the less.   
  
They ran inside the house of the man who smoked the pipe. Lu set her wounded friend down and began panting heavily. "You've gain weight!" Aldreasa cut her eyes at Lu.  
  
"This way." The stranger said as he led them into doorways. Aldreasa began to follow, but Lu stayed put while catching her breath. The young man that had been mistaken for the Crimson Flame gently wrapped his arm around Lu's waist to support her. She gladly accepted his help.  
  
"Thanks." She said cheerfully. They had walked into the garage where a nice silver car sat covered in dust. The stranger threw the keys to Aldreasa who luckily caught them.   
  
"Thake this car to the next town. That way you'll be safe and able to rest. Things won't quiet down here for awhile and there's no way you'll rest in my house." He went over to his shelf and grabbed a medic bag giving it to the gary haired young man who was still holding Lu up."Bandage her up first while the other drives. She's lost a lot of blood and will pass out soon." Lu looked at him in protest.  
  
"I'm jsut fine! Aldy will need band aids first." Lu tried to sound strong, but her voice faltered. A small click went off in Aldreasa's mind.  
  
'Lu had just ran, carrying me to this chouse with that bullet wound and deep cut in her arm.' Aldreasa smiled confidently. "Don't worry about me, Lu. I'm rested up for now." She caught the pale blue eyes and quickly looked away. "Why are you helping us?" She asked the stranger. Now that he was in the light she noticed he was very old with white hairs sticking out from underneath his hat. The gray haired man began setting Lu into the back seat of the car. She tried to shoo him away, but he gave her a serious glare that made her go still and scoot over for him to sit next to her.   
  
"Vash the Stampede spared my life. I told him I'd return the favor, but never really thought I'd be given the chance." Aldreasa held his gaze for a long time. As silence crept into the garage. "Go to Glory, its a small city down south. Charle will bring you to an old man who usually sits outside a bar. He'll help you." The stranger turned to open the garage door. Aldreasa got in the car and started the engine. Lu was fending off the young man in the back seat, still arguing that Aldreasa needed more help than she did. The silver car began pulling out of hte garage when it stopped by the man.  
  
"What's your name?" The stranger looked at the dark haired girl like it was question he had never been asked. No one ever really asked for his name. He was just the bounty hunter in the back of the bar who withered away at his old age. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.  
  
"Ruth Loose." He spoke with his head down, not revealing his eyes. "I'm a bounty hunter." Aldreasa nodded her head to him.  
  
"Adios, Senor Loose." The car left the garage, leaving a trail of dust behind. Ruth Loose took off his hat to reveal gray thinned hair.  
  
"Adios, Senoritas."  
  
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Ruth Loose was the bounty hunter in episode one! Just so ya know. I'm not real sure what happened to him, but I'm using him in my story! 


	9. Hysterical Laughter

dont own trigun  
  
Vash and Josek get drunk together! FUN FUN!  
  
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Lu winced as the hands of the young man ripped the back of her bloodied shirt. "Ouchie!" She pulled back from him and gave a pathetic look with her blue eyes. "That hurt!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't get to the bullet wound with your shirt like that. Would you mind?" His pale blue eyes looked past her, but Lu was confused.  
  
"Would I mind wha?" She said raising an eyebrow skeptically. Aldreasa sighed while driving.  
  
"Lu stop being a baby and let the man clean out your bullet wound. Its gotta be uncomfortable with that metal in your shoulder." Lu's eyes would've popped out of if they weren't connected to her brain.  
  
"GET IT OUT! Its gonna mutate in my body and turn me into an android!" Lu began clawing at her own shoulder trying to attack the bullet that was deep within her skin. Aldreasa was getting testy. She set the rearview mirror so her green eyes could see the two in the back seat. They focused on the gray haired man.  
  
"Lu let him take it out so you won't turn into an android." Lu backed away from the young man until she was pressed against the window. She shook her head drastically. "Lu..." Aldreasa said through her teeth.  
  
"Now way! I don't know this guy! What if he's an android too and he wants to turn me into one? There's no way you're turning me into a metal head! NEVER!" Aldreasa sighed.  
  
"What's your name?" The way Aldreasa asked was more like a demand. His pale blue eyes looked over to find her eyes in the mirror.  
  
'Charle Ahles' The young man thought in his mind, but he wasn't sure that he should tell the girls in case they would figure out what his name actually meant. Lu gave a great big yawn, turning her back to Charle as she scooted next to him.  
  
"Ok Chuck, fix me up..." Charle raised an eyebrow at Lu as she sat there in her tattered green shirt. He looked back at Aldreasa. Before he could get a word out of his mouth, Aldreasa began to talk.  
  
"So, your names Charles?" The young man had a look of astoundment on his face. "You might want to be careful with what you think. Lu has a gift. When you're thinking hard she can dig into that brain of yours to hear and see what you're thinking." Charle went to work on Lu's wounds, his face showing no emotion. "She won't invade your privacy or anything, but sometimes thoughts just slip into her head."  
  
"My name is Charle." He said to Aldreasa with out taking his eyes off the bloody mess his hands were in. The tweezers came out of Lu's back shoulder to reveal a copper bullet. Just then Lu fell backwards, losing all stength. Her blond head fell back onto Charle's chest. His pale face flushed bright red, but quickly returned pale as Aldreasa giggled.  
  
"Maybe you should just let her sleep..." Lu's blue eyes drifted into darkness. Yet another night of Lu's adventuring when she was unconscious.  
  
**Vash, Meryl and Millie finally made it to the town called Sydney where their daughters had been the night before. They were tired, dirty, hungry and thirsty. The blond man collasped in the sand when they reached the main street. "Vash..." Meryl said with her exhausted voice. She was way too tired to scold the outlaw known as the Humanoid Typhoon.  
  
"MERYL!" Millie screamed running ahead down the street. Meryl's weary eyes followed the running figure towards her very own car. She grabbed Vash by the collar of his poncho, hauling him to his feet.  
  
"We found them! Look!" Vash's aqua blue eyes follwed her pointing finger. He clasped his hands together like he was in prayer and a sparkle illuminated his eyes.  
  
"I'm saved!" The two began running towards the hotel. When they entered, they found Millie near the edge of breaking into tears.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't know they caused you problems." Millie began crying openly now as the hotel owner began yelling at the husky woman. Vash and Meryl walked over to the tall woman to comfort her. Millie excused herself to go sit in a chair next to a pair of old men playing checkers. Meryl cleared her throat as she and Vash began calming the man down.  
  
"Sorry sir, she's just a little emotional today. You see, we've been traveling the desert on foot." Meryl explained to him with a kind smile. The receptionist straightened his shirt and slicked back his graying hair.  
  
"We're actually looking for our daughter, Lu." Vash piped up. The man raised his eyebrow at the pair. The small woman wasn't that old looking, but she was clearly older than the young man with blond hair. Vash either didn't notice this look or he just didn't care. "She's about his high, long blond hair, blue eyes like mine and-"  
  
"Yea, yea, I know her." The couple's eyes lit up with hope. "She was carried in here yesterday by a girl with long black hair and Gabriel Josek." A sudden look of worry dropped on Meryl's face, giving her a new gray hair.  
  
"WHAT!? Is she ok!? Which room is she in? BAYLU!" She began running towards the stairs while the receptionist tried to stop her to give the information she asked for. Vash stayed behind though to listen to the man. The humanoid typhoon smiled nervously.  
  
"Women...hehe..." He scratched the back of his head while the man glared at him.  
  
"I see ruining business runs in your family." He told Vash with a harsh tone. "They paid for last night's lodging, but never came in. Now, I'd like it if you'd leave my inn before chasing away anymore customers!" Millie came back over after she helped the old man with his checker game.  
  
"Now sir, there's no need to raise your voice." Just then a scream came from the hotel rooms upstairs while they heard apologetic hollers from Meryl. The receptionist was becoming quite infuriated as he struggled to keep his temper at bay. Millie and Vash put their hands up while walking to the door. Outside in the street Vash, followed by Millie, landed face first in the dusty road. "How rude! I won't be lodging there anytime soon!" Millie said as she dusted herself off. A few seconds later, the receptoinist was thrown out of his own hotel. He landed in the dust beside the two. An angry Meryl stood in the doorway.  
  
"Don't you ever touch me again! I'll have you arrested for harassing a worker of the Bernidalli Insurance Company!" The poor receptionist scrambled to his feet apologizing to the petite woman before running into his hotel and locking the door behind him. Vash smiled at Meryl for her way of dealing with situations, falling in love all over again. She noticed his googly eyed smile. "And what are YOU looking at!?" Meryl said in her still angered voice. His smile brightened before he spoke.  
  
"The woman I love." He said happily with meaning. It made Meryl flush bright red and Millie giggled at her friend's blushing face. The small woman tried to stay angry, but it failed as she yelled at Millie.  
  
"Millie! Help me find any clues as to where they went. Vash," His face was still love struck. "go...um...go search the town!" The notorious outlaw gave her a flirtatoius smile as he turned to leave the two girls alone.  
  
"I haven't seen you blush like that for years!" Meryl turned to see a wide grinning Millie. The petite girl's face flushed once again.  
  
"Leave me alone..." She said in defeat.  
  
**An old silver car was parked in a small alley where three bodies slept. The first to awake was the young girl in the back seat. She rubbed the sleepiness out of her blue eyes. Her companions still slept in the two front seats. The dark haired girl lay in the passenger's seat with her tan coat wrapped around her body. The young man with gray hair slept silently behind the steering wheel in his black shirt and pants. Draped around Lu's small body was a black jacket that belonged to Charle. Lu put it on as she got out of the car to stretch.   
  
"I wonder where we are..." She said with an uncanny smile. Her hand went to a salute as she stood like a soldier would. "It is my duty as first awake to scout the area for any donuts and these 'specialty' drinks." She said 'specialty' drinks with a groggy smile. Remembering all the alcohol she had chugged the night before, her face turned ill. She began barfing into a near by trash can. A black cat jumped out of the can, hissing ferociously. "Ugh, sorry." Wiping her face on a towel that hung out of a window, she felt refreshed. "Onward!" As she took her first step towards town, another sickly look came over her face and once again she went to the trash can.  
  
**Vash walked down the street with his hands behind his head whistling a tune in his head. 'BayLu, where would you go?' Vash was thinking to himself. "Oh, where oh where could my daughter be? My Meryl took her away from me," He sang then bursted into a big smile as he walked up to a bar. "She IS my daughter right?" He said with a big grin as he stepped into Josek's bar. As the bell on the door rang, Gabriel looked at the weird man that had just walked in while holding his broom.  
  
"We're closed." He said as Vash looked at the mess. Tables were thrown in a heap that had bullet holes in them along with a few silver shining things that were knives and ninja stars. There was still broken glass all over the bar along with blood stains across the walls here and there.  
  
"What happened!?" Josek came from the kitchen. His arm was in a sling and there were cuts across his face from glass. His weathered face went to a surprised shock to a grin.  
  
"Well, if it isn't one Disaster after another." He said with a sly tone. Gabriel looked over at his uncle with questioning brown eyes.  
  
"Hey old man! How's it going?" The tall blond man asked as he walked over to his old friend with extended arms. Josek put up his good hand in protest.  
  
"Now wait a damn second. Who are you calling old man!? I'm not the one with a daughter running about." Josek said with a big smile. "Suspecting you're looking for the little Disaster." Disaster was a nick name Josek had given Vash. The Humanoid Typhoon put his hands on his hips as he stood in a pose.   
  
"My senses are telling me that I was correct in thinking like my daughter!" He said with his almighty tone of voice. Josek laughed at the blond.  
  
"Ha! You were just thinking like yourself!" Josek noticed that Gabriel was still in the room listening to their conversation. "Hey Gabe, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine. The $$60,000,000,000 man, Vash the Stampede."  
  
"The one and only!" Vash yelled. Gabriel looked at the goof ball with disbelief, but one look from his uncle told him that Vash was the real thing. The brown eyes looked at the blond in amusement.  
  
"I wouldn't of guessed you were Vash the Stampede, but you're definately Lu's father."  
  
"The one and only!" Vash repeated. Josek smacked his friend on the back joyfully.  
  
"Why don't you run along while me and Disaster here catch up on old times." Gabriel nodded to his uncle as he set the broom against the only standing chair.  
  
"Oh! There's two Insurance ladies wandering around here somewhere...One's real tall with chesnut hair and the other is small with dark hair and-" Vash held his hands at different heights, indicating how tall each girl was.  
  
"Yea, yea, I'll send them over if I see them." With that wave of his hand, Gabriel left out the back door. Josek raised a bushy eyebrow at Vash.  
  
"Those girls still following you around?" Vash turned to his friend with a smile. "How did you manage to have a daughter with those two nuts chasing you...oh! Wait a second! The short one!" Vash scratched the back of his head with a small laugh. "Come here you slugger you!" Josek gave Vash a noogie after a great bear hug. "Thought you'd never have the balls to say a word to her! Haha!" Josek's mood turned from happy, joy, joy to an accusing look. "How come you never dropped by with your little Disaster family eh?" Vash sighed deeply as he sat down at the bar.  
  
"I'll explain it over a couple of your 'specialties'." Vash said with a mischievious grin to his friend. Josek laughed as he began mixing the alcohol together.  
  
"I should've known she was your daughter! Almost beat your record. Hell, if it wasn't for the Nebraska Brothers she would've done it too!" Vash nearly fell off his bar stool.  
  
"Nebraska Brothers!?" He choked.  
  
"Settle down." Josek said while setting the dirnk on the counter. "She's alright, but first tell me your story before I give you the news that's been bustling around my town." Vash took a swig of the alcoholic beverage.  
  
Meryl was leaning against the trunk of her car sighing. Millie was in the back seat sleeping. "Where could they have gone aldready? And why'd they leave the car here?" Meryl heard a low laugh from the hotel's shadows as she spoke out loud to herself.  
  
"Perhaps they bumped into a little trouble." Every limb in Meryl's body began to shake as her eyes opened wide. She knew that slithering voice, but it couldn't be him...Meryl's head turned slowly to look at the voice from the shadows. "Maybe there was no trouble at all and they're just out shopping?" The voice said with a mocking tone. The hat tilted up revealing lifeless eyes. Meryl held their gaze as she turned her body towards the man.  
  
"Where are they?" Her question was a demand. Her eyes were stone cold serious. A breeze blew through the streets. There were people walking and hurrying around getting their daily chores finsished. Yet everything was quiet to Meryl. "Ruth Loose." Meryl said his name with a cold tone. The old man had hunted Vash down after the confrontation with Knives. Meryl hadn't witnessed the fight, but she could tell it must've been a rough one from the way Vash looked when he came home. Meryl's hand grabbed one of her derringers. Ruth Loose smiled devilishly while Meryl returned the grin.  
  
A bullet whizzed through the hotel wall and right past the receptionist followed by 5 more gun shots. His eyes went wide as a man came crashing through his window. "Get out of my hotel this instant!" He was silenced with the three feet long barrel.  
  
"Loose!" Meryl's voice yelled from outside. She pulled out two more derringers. Ruth Loose heard the click of guns. "Why don't you come out like a good boy with your hands up and your weapon down. We're a little old for these games aren't we?" Meryl stood in the street as the wind blew her long dark hair about fiercly. Ruth Loose crackled from inside, holding his gun at the receptionist's head.  
  
"You're not as good as Vash. How are you suppose to take me down?" Meryl's eyes blinked in realization. He was right. The small woman couldn't be compared to Vash. Her eyes intensified with fear.  
  
Josek was laughing hysterically at Vash. "Now, let me get this straight! You just happened to bump into your daughter, who you didn't know was your daughter, at a bakery while you were trying to steal donuts? Then after you find out she's your daughter, the little disaster runs away!?" They were both drunk and Vash was laughing along with him. The blond began to calm down, wiping the tears from his eyes.  
  
"Ok, ok, ok now, -hic- you gotta tell me the NEWS of your town!" Vash said slamming his glass on the counter. Josek wiped his eyes from laughing so hard.  
  
"Right, right, well my dear nephew comes home with two FINE looking women -hic-" Vash grabbed Josek by the shirt collar.  
  
"Hey! -hic- You just called my daughter FINE mister!" They glared at each other for no more than a second before breaking into the hysterical laughter. Josek banged his hand on the counter while laughing his guts out.  
  
"Well, your FINE daughter and her very FINE friend came in here and -hic- guzzled down 40 of my specialty drinks! With out a break! Givin a toast to her FINE friend and my Gabriel -hic- and the barstool!" He pointed at the stool next to Vash. Who looked over at it and began laughing anew. "And then...the Nebraska Brothers."  
  
"NO!" Vash was drastically taken aback.  
  
"-hic- Yes! She jumped on top of this bar." Josek heaved his body up so he could stand on the counter. Vash did the same, but with less grace. "She held up her glass to the Nebraska Brothers, looked at 'em with her beautiful blue eyes -hic- which she got from her wonderful father."  
  
"HAHA!" Vash giggled quickly holding up his drink to Josek then back to the door.  
  
"AND she said, 'This ta the men that came to rescue history,' or something like that...Then she took the great drink of her 41st cup of Josek's specialty!" Vash began drinking from his cup. "BANG!" Josek knocked the cup out of Vash's hands making it tumble to the ground.  
  
"H-hey..." Vash said sadly. Josek put his good arm around Vash's shoulders.  
  
"Big had shot the cup to pieces making Lu-Lu forfeit her 41st glass!" Vash hit himself in the head.  
  
"How could he do such a thing!?" Josek threw up his arm.  
  
"I dunno! But then..." The drunk trailed off looking out into the abyss. Vash stared off into with him for a few minutes.  
  
"Then" Vash said.  
  
"Oh yea! A fight started..." Josek said dully, climbing back down.  
  
"Oh" Vash said with the same dullness.  
  
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Next chapter we finish the fight between Meryl and Ruth Loose! dunanananananana! Plus, Lu's wandering a town on her own... 


	10. Its Miss Meryl Stryfe to You!

I don't own trigun!  
  
yea i just noticed that there's like three others stories out there where Vash's daughter's name begins with the letter "L"  
  
Please review!!  
  
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'What am I going to do? Think Meryl! Quick!' The door to the hotel opened to reveal the receptionist. He stood with his hands up. Meryl saw the long barrel of Loose's gun resting gently on the man's shoulder. It was aimed straight at her. Before she could think further, he fired a shot knocking the derringer out of her hand. Quickly, another shot hit her other gun, but not harming her. Ruth Loose kicked the hotel guy aside. Walking into the daylight into the open street, there was only him and the small woman. The silence was long and uneasy as they held one another's stare. "Are you gonna shoot me or what!?" Meryl yelled at the man, breaking the silence.  
  
"No." He said plainly putting away his gun. Meryl was shocked by his statement and action. She didn't let her guard down though. "Your daughter...she's very talented." Meryl kept her expression blank as her mouth dried. "Raw talent. She has Vash's skill with the gun. I imagined it was her first time handling it. I have reason to believe that it was her first time handling a gun." A smiled crossed his face as he looked down at the sand.  
  
"What did you do to her?" Meryl said coldly. Ruth Loose ignored her question.  
  
"I can't believe you never thought to train the girl to shoot a gun, Meryl." He said her name with much venom that could poison Meryl if it were physical. "She has the talent to outwit her own father. I bet if she had a pair of her own guns..." His talk about talent was making the petite girl sick. How dare he talk about her daughter in any way.  
  
"I asked you, what did you do to her!?" Meryl was angry now. The old man tilted his head so she could see his elusive eyes reflect the sun.  
  
"I saved her from Big, one of the Nebraska brothers. Then I helped them escape the town from the sheriff." He said just above a whisper so the small woman could just hear.  
  
"What?" Meryl was stunned, but tried to sound angry eventhough she was plainly concerned about her daughter and this connection to the Nebraska brothers.   
  
"Hey! Mrs. Vash!" Meryl took her eyes off of Ruth Loose for just one moment. She saw the young blond curly haired man running towards her. When she looked back, Ruth Loose was gone. Lu's jacket lay where he once stood. Meryl picked herself up and began brushing the sand off her white pants. "Mrs. Vash are you alright?" The boy approached her, but stopped as she held her hand up to him. Millie sat up in the back seat of the car with a smile on her face.  
  
"That was a great nap!" Meryl nearly fell to the ground as her tall friend happened to wake up.  
  
"Don't tell me you slept through all that!?" The small woman picked up her derringers as she stormed over to the car. Millie looked confused.  
  
"Through all of what?" She yawned. Meryl opened the door as the woman got out to stretch.   
  
"The gunfire! I can't believe you, Millie!" She then walked over to pick up her daughter's jacket. Millie smiled at the petite woman. Gabriel waved his arms at the Insurance ladies.  
  
"Mrs. Vash! Your husband is at the bar and wants you there." Meryl turned to the young man with a death glare that almost made him soil ihs pants.  
  
"Its Miss Meryl Stryfe to you, young man." Gabriel nodded his head dumbly. "Which bar is broom head getting drunk at this time?" Meryl was even more demanding and scary than Gabriel remembered. He hoped that he had made a mistake in thinking this was Lu's mother, but the woman she was with was certainly Aldreasa's mother.  
  
"Um, Josek bar, Miss Meryl Stryfe." He said through a shaking voice. The petite woman sighed heavily then turned on her heel in the direction of Gabriel's uncle's bar. The taller woman bowed her head at the young man.  
  
"Thank you so much for the message, Gabe." He was very surprised that the woman remembered him. Gabriel smiled cheerfully.  
  
"You're very welcome Aunty Mil." Millie took suit behind Miss Meryl Stryfe. Gabriel stood for a moment then took pace behind the tall woman who used to take care of him at the orphanage.  
  
Vash and Josek were once again laughing until their faces turned red. "Say it again!" Vash hollered through giggles. "Tell me -hic- what she said again!" Josek kept laughing.  
  
"I told you -hic- she ran out of ammo and started yelling at it! -hic- She thought it was broken!" Josek changed his voice to a higher pitch. "Work you stupid thing!" He said trying to immitate Lu. They went laughing again.  
  
"Just like her father! -hic- I'm so proud!" Vash said with great amusement. Josek tried to calm himself down, but he kept on laughing, remembering Lu shaking the gun vigourlessly.  
  
"Funny thing -hic- IT WAS YOUR GUN!" Vash's face went white as Josek kept laughing.  
  
"MY GUN!?"  
  
"What about your gun?" Meryl asked from the door way. Vash didn't hear the bell ring when she came in with Millie and Gabriel behind her. The blond outlaw smiled.  
  
"Well, uh Lu-" He was cut off by Josek who walked up to Meryl. She was clearly disgusted by his drunken state. He held out his hand to Meryl.  
  
"Glad to see you again, Miss Meryl. Heard that Lu's yours and Vash's daughter! Who'd ever thought you two would end up together!" His voice turned sly. "So, was he a tiger?" Josek eyed her carefully. WHAM! A great welt began to form on top of his head.  
  
"That's none of your god damn business Josek!" Millie shook her finger behind Meryl.  
  
"Now, now there's no use of that kind of language, Meryl." Gabriel moved past the tall woman and the angry Meryl to his uncle.  
  
"Come along, Uncle, I think you've had a little too much to drink..." Gabriel tried to coax the drunk Josek out of the door, but he refused, turning to Vash.  
  
"I haven't finished giving my old Disaster news -hic- about his daughter!" Meryl grabbed a hold of the man's collar, ignoring his drunk stench.  
  
"What do you know about my daughter!? Was she really shooting guns? Did Ruth Loose save her life from the Nebraska Brothers!? Is that why your bar is such a mess? TELL ME NOW!" She shook the man vigorously. Millie grabbed Meryl's shoulders, pulling her back from Josek.  
  
"Hey! You just ruined my WHOLE story for Disaster here!" The drunk yelled in a protest. Then he passed out on the floor, probably making new cuts on his face. Vash's bright blue eyes turned serious.  
  
"Loose..." Vash said with a cold tone. Gabriel interjected.  
  
"Listen, its not what you tink. Ruth Loose saved all of our lives last night. We always let him stay at the bar just as long as he keeps the peace. He helped Lu and Aldreasa get out of here, before they got in real big trouble with the sheriff." Vash kept his eyes cold blue.  
  
"Anything concerning Loose we should know about?" Vash asked. Meryl found it attractive when Vash turned all serious about situations, but it also ran a chill down her spine seeing the spark of joy run away from his bright blue eyes. She would never figure out that man.  
  
"Well, he asked about Lu's gun which she said was yours..." Meryl threw her hands up in the air.  
  
"Great! My daughter is running loose with a gun being saved by notorious bounty hunters!"  
  
"Well, at least we know where your gun went to Mr. Vash." Millie said cheerfully looking at the blond man. His face was still tough and his blue eyes, dark.  
  
"Aunty Mil?" Millie looked down at the young blond man who seemed short to her, but everyone was usually short compared to the tall chesnut haired woman.  
  
"Yes dear?" She answered cheerfully with a smile. He looked down at the floor and then looked up into the woman's eyes. Gabriel felt like he was 7 years old agian.  
  
"Aldreasa took care of herself and she's sorry she left you." Millie's smile faded into a much gentler one. "Please don't be mad at her when you see her again. She just thought that Lu would need her help and she promised she'd come back home..." Millie smiled and patted the young man on his shoulders, not knowing what to say.  
  
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I think that was the shortest chapter...o well! Oh! and if ya dont' know, i update a lot! so BEWARE!  
  
U MUST REVIEW PULZ pretty pretty plz 


	11. Mrs Kurik's Yard

I do not in ne way own trigun.  
  
Ravage blue, you're so cute! lol THANKS FOR UR REVIEWS, they make me feel special ^_________^ i really don't understand how some people can get over 200 reviews...sheez  
  
Tearron Walker, i had no idea what had happened to Ruth Loose and i really tried to find out, but i didn't so i just used him blindly! sorry if it disappointed u!  
  
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Aldreasa woke up in the car as the sun's rays hit her face. She stretched and looked over to see Charle still sleeping in the driver's seat. As she yawned, her green eyes stumbled upon an empty back seat. "BAYLU!" Charle jumped in his seat at her holler. Its a pretty rude awakening when you're woken up by Aldreasa's angry voice.  
  
"What's wrong?" Charle asked, blinkly the sleep from his eyes. Aldreasa opened the car door and glanced about the alley. Charle got out as well, just noticing that was Lu was not where he had left her.  
  
"Lu!" Aldreasa yelled once again. She was seemingly very nervous. "Ok, first, calm down, she won't do anything that drastic..." The dark haired girl coached herself. Charle looked at her like she was some kind of basket case.  
  
"You shouldn't worry so much." His voice was calm as his pale blue eyes. Aldreasa nearly choked on thin air at the young man's statement. She shook her head and waved her finger at him.  
  
"Oh no, you don't know Lu like I do. Last time she wandered off on her own, the water tower fell down thanks to the little blond, making the town a miniature swimming hole. And that's when she was 10! Just think what she'll do now!" Charle shook his head and began walking down to the corner. "Where are you going?" He looked over his shoulder at the girl.  
  
"I'm hungry." He said plainly. "Aren't you?" Charle put his hands in his black pant pockets waiting for Aldreasa to make up her mind. She was about to protest when she gave a great sigh.  
  
"Yes, food sounds good..." She almost sounded depressed as she drug her feet over to follow Charle in their quest for some brunch.  
  
"She'll be fine." Aldreasa looked at Charle and wanted to believe him, but she knew Lu too well to know that. With the blond wandering on her own there was bound to be some kind of trouble somewhere.  
  
Lu was actually far from trouble. The girl in her black wardrobe was walking down the sidewalk humming a light tune. She had a small bounce in her step and a happy grin on her face. "Watch out!" Lu looked dumbly to her left just as a ball came flying at her head. BOOM! Lu fell straight to the ground as the ball went flying off her head. Little stars danced around the blond head. A group of little kids came running up to her. "Are you ok miss?" A little boy asked cautiously. Lu jumped to her feet laughing hysterically.  
  
"Of course lil boy! No sweat!" The children all gave her strange looks. A little girl came rushing up to the group of kids with excitement in her big hazel eyes.  
  
"Jeremy! You threw the ball into Mrs. Kurik's yard!" All the kids said "ooo" in unision at the little boy known as Jeremy.  
  
"You threw it! So you have to go get it!"  
  
"Yea, or else you can't play with us!" The brown haired kid was about to protest when all the other kids turned their backs before he could get a word out. Jeremy turned and began walking down the street with his head down.  
  
"Aw, man. You chicken!" The kids yelled insulting words after him.  
  
"Now we won't have a ball to play with anymore." The children groaned. Lu looked from the group of whining children to poor little Jeremy walking down the sidewalk.  
  
"H-hey! Kid!" She ran up to him then put her hands on her knees in exhaustion. That boy must've been power walking to get so far away in a short time. 'Maybe if I didn't have these stupid boo-boos...' Jeremy stopped and looked at her with his brown eyes. "I'll help you get your ball back." She said after catching her breath. He stared at her for moment and then burst out into laughter.  
  
"Yea right! Why would a grown up help me?" In Inepril, the adults would ignore children because everyone was so busy improving the town and tending to tourists. It was one of the largest growing cities on Gunsmoke. Almost like a re-invented July City. Lu looked slowly to her left, and to her right. The boy followed her sparkling blue eyes carefully. Then Lu looked behind her and then behind the boy.  
  
"What grown up?" Lu asked. Jeremy held her gaze for a moment. His face lit up when he was convinced Lu was serious about helping him. Grabbing her hand, they ran past the group of kids.  
  
"This way! We can get into Mrs. Kurik's yard through the alley." All the other children chased after Jeremy and the blond. They stood at the corner of the alley waiting too see if their ex-friend was going to get the ball. Jeremy pulled the loose fence board open. "Ok, here's the situation soldier." Jeremy turned into military mode as Lu stood at attention. "This is your battlefield, Commi-Nazis territory." He directed her eyes to Mrs. Kurik's back yard. There were dead trees and large brown weeds that stood higher than the fence itself. There was a strange statue of a man holding a water bowl in the center. The yard seemed like a barren wasteland with no life. It seemed dark even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  
  
"Creepy..." Lu whispered. She had never seen a place like this before. Now she understood why the boy was going to walk away with his head down rather than go into THAT dead man's land.  
  
"The enemy is inside her base as we speak. There is a high chance she may come into the wasteland to check on her guards who are mostrous animals with dark fur, red eyes and sharp teeth that would chomp once to devour a child for breakfast!" Lu gulped as Jeremy described Mrs. Kurik's pets. "Our package lies on the enemy's porch." Lu saw the red ball lying on the not so innocent steps. "On my signal..." Both got ready. Jeremy waited for the old woman to move across the living room to where the bathroom was located. "Go!" They both went in running. The children climbed on top of eachother trying to see what was going on. Lu and Jeremy hid inside a dead bush, breathing deeply.  
  
"Now what?" Lu asked. Jeremy was still gasping for breath and coughed. Concerned flashed across Lu's face. "Hey, you ok kid?" Jeremy nodded, but kept breathing deeply, trying to steady himself. "Ok, here's the plan captain. I'm gonna run up to the porch and grab our package to complete our mission. You whistle if the guards come or the enemy is in sight."  
  
"Sounds good soldier. You've just been promoted to private." Jeremy wheezed. Lu's eyes sparkled with great joy. Private...Jeremy hit her in the head. "Snap out of it private, we've got a mission!" Lu saluted him.  
  
"Yes sir!" Her head popped out of the bush with leaves sticking out in various spots. Two brown eyes were looking at the yard from the bush underneath her. They waited for just a moment.  
  
"Clear!" Lu went running with lightning speed to pick up the red ball. Just as her fingers grasped the red rubber, Mrs. Kurik's door to the bathroom opened. A sharp whistle came from the bushes. The children behind the fences closed their eyes. When they opened once again, Lu was hiding behind the statue in a peculiar stance. The old lady sat down in her seat, not noticing Lu hiding behind the statue. Taking out a neelde and thread, she began crocheting. Lu could feel the bullet wound on her shoulder re-opening and it did not feel that good. She tried ignoring the pain as sweat ran to her face.  
  
'Ouchie, this is insane...' Lu looked over to the bush and saw Jeremy's brown eyes and the children peaking their head over the fence. She smiled bravely. 'What am I thinking!? I AM INSANE! One shot isn't gonna bring me down! I WILL COMPLETE THE MISSION!' She thought to herself.  
  
"Come on!" One of the little girls whispered, grabbing her friend's arm. "We gotta help them!" The two kids went running to Mrs. Kurik's front door. They both cautiously walked up to the door. "Ready?" The little girl nodded. They both raised one hand to a fist. "Go!" They banged hard on the front door and ran. Mrs. Kurik got out of her chair to answer her door. Jeremy popped out of the bush.  
  
"Come on private! Lets get out of here!" Lu nodded and began to run after Jeremy who was stopped by a large black and brown mutt. Everyone froze as the dog gave a low growl to the little boy. Jeremy gulped hard as he stared into the dogs yellow eyes. It took a step towards him bearing its razor teeth. The red ball hit the dog upside the head.  
  
"Hey you stupid mutt! Over here!" Lu danced around in the yard then got down on all fours like an animal. "Look! I'm a kitty! Meow, Mreow." The dog snarled as it moved towards the blond who was pretending to be a cat. "MEOW!" The dog took chase. Lu jumped to her feet and began running frantically. All the children watched the brave girl with awe. Jeremy was still frozen in position, watching Lu. The girl scurried up a tree like a cat would. The dog barked at as her as if it were crazed. Another mutt came from the dead weeds, heading towards the little boy. "Jeremy! The ball! Get the ball and RUN!" Lu screamed while she clung dearly to the leafless tree. Jeremy snapped out of his trance and picked up the ball, running as hard as he could to the fence where the other children cheered him on. As the little boy made it to the other side, he began gasping for air. The second mutt slammed into the fence, making it rock. It shook his head after impact. The children mobbed over Jeremy with congradulations while he still breathed deeply.  
  
"Alright Jeremy!" Lu cheered from above. Her branch began to break. "Uh-oh..." The girl dropped to where the large dog was barking, waiting for his meal. "AHHH!!!!" There was rustling, growling and screaming from the mob of blond hairs and fur.  
  
Aldreasa heard the screams from across the streets as her and Charle ate lunch outside a cafe. "Did you hear that?" Charle looked up from his newspaper. Aldreasa shook her head and returned to her pasta. "Never mind, I'm just paranoid. Anything interesting in the paper?" Charle set it down to show a picture of Mad Dog behind bars and below it was a picture of Lu singing next to an embarrassed Aldreasa. The headline red 'Hometown Hero' Aldreasa blinked her green eyes. "Oh, that, haha" She gave a weak and nervous laugh.  
  
"Are you two bounty hunters?" Charle said with no hint as to whether it was a bad thing or good thing. Aldreasa stopped her weak laughs and looked rather stunned.  
  
"No, of course not. I'm only 18." Charle picked up the newspaper, taking her word for it. Aldreasa began playing with her noodles and returned thinking about the images that flashed in her head that night at the bar.  
  
'Were they warnings? No, it must've been Lu accidently channeling something to me while she was drunk.' She took a bite of her food, accepting that as her answer.  
  
Lu was still wrestling around with the mutt and now the other one had joined in to gang up on the blond. "I love dogs! I really do!" Mrs. Kurik came to her porch to see what all the commotion was about.   
  
"Poochy! Darling! What's going on?" The old woman carefully walked down her steps. Both the dogs and Lu stopped struggling against one another. The two mutts went jogging happily towards their master. The blond girl took this opportunity to escape through the fence. Mrs. Kurik saw the girl shut the board behind her. "You...you bothersome children! The sheriff will hear about this!" The old woman shook her hand in the air. Lu's jacket was torn to bits and she was bleeding again, plus her bandages from yesterday were already torn off. She sighed heavily as she examined herself. It was a lucky thing that she was wearing Charle's jacket instead of Aldreasa's. She'd have a fit and mutalize Lu.  
  
"Jeremy!" One of the little girls yelled from down the alley. Lu ran over to the group of kids. Jeremy was laying on the ground wheezing. Lu picked him up while freaking out.  
  
"What's wrong with him!? Why's he breathing funny!?" Lu said in a frenzy. One of the little boys tugged on Lu's pants. He was more calm than Lu.  
  
"He's got as ta attack." That made Lu even more scared.  
  
"What's as ta!?" Her face was purely horrified. Could she get this as ta?  
  
"Its breath problems!" A boy yelled at her. "Use his medicine!" Lu began fumbling around in Jeremy's pockets until she found a weird shaped object known as an inhaler. "Put it to his mouth!" The little kids instructed. Lu fumbled around and put it in his mouth. Jeremy kept on wheezing.  
  
"Its not working!" Lu panicked.  
  
"You gotta squeeze it!" They yelled at her. Lu began pumping the inhaler. All the kids watched with curious silence as Lu tried to save the boy's life. Jeremy then grabbed the inhaler from Lu's hand and opened his eyes. A great cheer raised from the alley. "Yay for Private-sama!" They called her Private-sama. How cute! She squeezed the poor little boy in her arms as he coughed.   
  
"You're alive!" Lu yelled happily.  
  
"What's going on!?" All the kids looked to see the sheriff. "Hey you! Let the boy go!" He pulled out his gun as Lu slowly let go of Jeremy. All the children began to scatter. "Stop!" They all ducked into fences and backyards as Lu stood there with her hands raised. Even Jeremy disappeared.  
  
"Hello, sir." Lu said cheerfully.   
  
"Shut up!" The sheriff stalked towards the blond. Mrs. Kurik came slowly around the corner. "You better have a good explaination, girl."   
  
"I, uh..." Lu couldn't think of a GOOD explaination, especially with her clothes looking the way they were.  
  
"That's her sheriff! That's the BRAT that disturbed my poor puppies." Lu gave an innocent look as the old woman pointed an accusing finger. The sheriff gave the blond girl a stern look. She drastically threw her arms out in front of her, getting ready to be cuffed.  
  
"Do what you must officer! I will go willingly in the name of TRUTH." The sheriff studied her for a moment, deciding whether he should put the hand-cuffs on her or not. One angry glare from Mrs. Kurik made the man slap those metal braclets on Lu's wrist. "WHAT!? You're actually going to take me to jail?" Lu disappointly said.  
  
"You, miss, have been convicted with disturbing the peace, invading private property and brawling." He began pushing Lu down the alley as the children watched.  
  
"The dog attacked me! I want my rights! Aldreasa!" Lu's blue eyes caught Jeremy and another child hiding behind a trash can. "Go find a girl named Aldy with long black hair and tell her Lu's in jail." Jeremy nodded as the kids ran down the other end of the alley. "C'mon officer, I'm sure we can work something out." In reply, the sheriff pushed Lu roughly forward.  
  
Aldreasa was in line for buying tickets. She was tapping her foot at the middle-aged woman in front of her, who was taking a little too long. "Now, are you sure my Muffins," She was refering to her small dog. "will be well taken care of if I put her in the hands of YOU people?" The ticket man smiled weakly.  
  
"Yes Mrs. Doubtfire. I can guarentee you-" The middle-aged woman turned sharply around at Aldreasa.  
  
"Stop that insufferable tapping this instant! A young lady as yourself should be standing with poise! Not slouched over with arms crossed and tapping impatiently at a wealthy woman as myself. Didn't you mother teach you any manners!?" Aldreasa smiled sweetly.  
  
"As a matter-of fact, yes she did. She taught me not to turn around like a madwoman when someone tends to annoy me and then not to yell insanely at them." Mrs. Doubtfire huffed as she turned on her heel and stomped off into the city with her precious Muffins in her purse. The man at the ticket booth was relieved.  
  
"Thank you so much for getting rid of her. I thought she would never leave." Aldreasa sighed as she stepped forward to the ticket stand.  
  
"You're welcome, now I need to buy 3 tickets to Glory." The man did some clicking on the cash register. Aldreasa noticed some children running around talking to every black haired lady. The cashier ripped off 3 paper tickets.  
  
"Here ya go, that'll be $$90" He said with glee. Aldreasa's mouth dropped open.  
  
"Are you kidding me?" Sighing, Aldreasa dug out the last bit of money she had. "Here you go, and Thank you." The man gladly took the money, waving good-bye to Aldreasa as she complained under her breath about unreal prices for low-class travel. She stopped and looked around. "Where'd Charle go?" Just then a small boy with brown hair tugged on her tan coat.  
  
"Excuse me miss, is your name Aldy?" Aldreasa knelt down and smiled at the boy, tucking the tickets in her pocket.  
  
"Yes, what may I do for you, young man?" Jeremy's face light up as he turned around to call for the other children.  
  
"I FOUND HER!" About 12 children came running from all directions to where Jeremy and Aldreasa were. The young woman stood up afraid she was going to get mobbed to death. "Private-sama told me to tell you that Lu is in jail." Aldreasa looked down at the boy in pure shock.  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"OOODELADAY! Release the innocent! JUSTICE! TRUTH AND JUSTICE!" Lu hollered from the cell she was being held in. Her cup clanged against the metal bars as she ran around the 7x7 square room. Her ranting had been going on and on for over an hour. The sheriff and officers were surprised she hadn't lost her voice yet. Losing their amazement at her never-ending voice, the police were getting quite annoyed by the blond. "ALDY! SAVE ME! CHARLE! ANYBODY!?"  
  
The sheriff heaved himself out of his chair, grabbing Lu's arm. "SHUT UP!" He took the cup she was clanging against the bars and threw it in the garabage. Lu gasped.  
  
"How dare you throw aside a fellow protestor! YOU'RE EVIL!" The sheriff sat down in his chair, next to anther officer. The officer leaned over to speak with the sheriff as Lu's shouting about the sheriff being evil continued.  
  
"Why in the Lord's name did you arrest that kid!? She's done nothing but holler since she got in here! Its almost like she enjoys watching us suffer." The sheriff furrowed his brow and closed his eyes, trying to tune the blond out.  
  
"Tu eres el diablo! Aldy save me!"  
  
"SHUT UP! You got a visitor, Lu the Stampede." The sheriff chuckled again. The girl had told them her name was Lu the Stampede, after her father. Lu sighed with relief, because her voice was getting a little raspy. Jeremy had finally found Aldreasa. An officer came around the corner and to Lu's surprise it wasn't Aldy that followed him.  
  
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Dunanana! okie dokie, there ya go! I'd write more but i gotta get to school, the evil prison. I won't be updating that often cuz i gots drivers ed right now... ITS SO BORING and the teacher doesn't like me :( but its all gravy! oh and don't worry Tearron Walker, Lu will use her angel arms eventually, but its not gonna b for awhile yet. Trust me, you'll b surprised when you find out who she uses it against... 


	12. Enemy Arises

I dont own trigun.   
  
Tearran walker, Knives is going to be in this. for ur other ?s u just gotta wait and c.   
  
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Lu was sitting obediently in her cot as Charle tested his persuasion skills on the sheriff. She would've sworn she was smoking the reefer when Charle had come waltzing in instead of Aldreasa. The guy barely knew Lu, but he knew that she was in jail. The gray haired young man was completely calm as he discussed Lu's releasement with the sheriff. Before she knew it, the sheriff was unlocking the prison cell. "Get out of here, kid." Lu ran out of the cell so he couldn't change his mind and shut the door on her.  
  
"Thank you SIR!" She said with a mighty salute. Charle began walking towards the door. "Send Mrs. Kurik my regards." The blond said with a sly tone as she slipped out after her rescuer. Lu sighed before she caught up to Charle, giving him a big hug which made him blush. "Thank you so much! You're my hero! If you hadn't shown up before Aldreasa, I would've been dog meat!" Charle tried to stop blushing as Lu let go of him. He wasn't used to anyone coming in contact with him like that. "How'd you know I was in there anyways?"   
  
"The sheriff would've shot you for a moment's peace." Charle said as he began his slow walk once again. Lu smiled nervously as she walked alongside him. She didn't doubt the sheriff shooting her just for some silence. As the two turned the corner, Lu came face to face with Aldreasa.  
  
"Private-sama!" Jeremy yelled as he ran up to hug Lu's waist. All the other children ran up to the blond, tackling her to the ground. She slammed down on her shoulder and could feel blood ooze out of her bullet wound. "Play another game with us! Please Private-sama?" The kids chanted. Sighing, Aldreasa grabbed Lu by the ear and yanked her out of the pile.  
  
"Ouchie! That hurts." Lu gave her a puppy dog face. "Why you gotta be so mean?" Aldreasa gave her a stern look, letting go of Lu's pointy ear. Jeremy tugged on Lu's tattered jacket.  
  
"Is that your mommy?" He asked. Lu shook her blond head 'no'. She leaned down so she could whisper in his ear.  
  
"Worse, my babysitter." She said in a harsh tone. All the children gasped and walked slowly away from Aldreasa, hiding behind Private-sama and Charle. The dark haired woman smiled politely.  
  
"I'm sorry children, go run along and play with your ball. Private-sama and I need to get some rest now." Aldreasa explained cutely. The kids looked heartbroken. Lu waved good-bye sadly as Aldreasa grabbed her wrist and began pulling her along. Charle follwed behind the two girls. "I can't believe you were in jail." Aldreasa coached at the girl she pulled. Lu gave her a sleezy grin.  
  
"Wait! Private-sama!" Jeremy yelled. Lu turned around sharply, easily releasing herself from Aldreasa's grip.  
  
"Jeremy! Slow down! I don't want you to have as ta attack!" Lu got down on her knees for the little boy. Charle raised ihs eyebrow, looking at the kid and blond.  
  
"You mean asthma?" He said, but Aldreasa just shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Thank you for saving my life from the monsters and saving the ball and saving my life again!" He gave Lu a hug that made her wince from all her injuries. Charle noted to himself to make sure Lu took care of her wounds. Aldreasa's jaw was hanging when she heard that Lu saved Jeremy's life. A smirk escaped Charle's lips as he saw the look on her face.  
  
"Lu sure got into a lot of trouble." He said mockingly. Aldreasa gave him a cold look with her green eyes that he didn't acknowledge. Lu smiled and hugged Jeremy back.  
  
"You're welcome, Captain." Lu whispered. The children came running over to them with excitement.  
  
"Will you play ball with us, Private-sama!?" They all cheered. Lu smiled uneasily as she released Jeremy. She was about to accept when Aldreasa came up and put a hand on the little boy's shoulder.  
  
"I'm sorry kids, but Private-sama really needs her rest." All the little boys and girls groaned in disappointment. An evil grin plastered Aldreasa's face. "But, I'm sure Charle-san would love to play ball with you!" Her voice screamed payback at Charle for being right about Lu. The gray haired man's face was stunned as the children crowded around him.   
  
"What?" They began dragging him off into their little play area in the street. "We have to leave for the steamer." He called back to Aldreasa. She waved to him with the grin still on her face.  
  
"It won't leave for another hour. Enjoy your play time!" She called back to him. Charle grinned back at her.  
  
"Yes, grandmother."  
  
"Grandmas are scary." One of the children said loud enough for Aldrasa to hear. "That one was pretty scary." Another child agrred. Lu started laughing real hard as Aldreasa's face paled.  
  
"I don't look that old, do I?" She said in a panic, but then she noticed Lu's insane laughing. Popping her one on the head, Aldreasa began walking to the steamer.  
  
"Ouchie! Haha, THAT HURT!" Lu kept on laughing through the pain. That made her friend even more upset. Aldreasa turned around and punched Lu in the bad shoulder. Lu shuddered and grabbed her shoulder. "THAT FUCKING HURT!" The tone of voice was not friendly and it stunned Aldreasa to hear that language come from the blond. Then she noticed the fire in the angry blue eyes. All the cheer and joy had been sucked away, but the cold look was quickly gone. With out knowing how to react, Aldreasa just waved her hand in the air carelessly.  
  
"Don't be such a baby, Lu." They both began walking down an alley to the steamer. "You worried me sick this morning, disappearing. I'm just glad you didn't get into any real trouble." Lu wasn't paying any attention as pins and needles re-cut every single scratch on her body. She felt like dropping down to her knees and just giving up, but she followed Aldreasa to the steamer with out a word said.  
  
**Meryl, Millie and Vash sat alone at Josek's bar drinking. Meryl was holding her head in her hands while Millie hummed a tune. Vash had his elbows on the counter and his hands folded in front of his mouth. They were all deciding on how to go about locating the missing daughters. Gabriel had told them about the mysterious stranger that was mistaken for the Crimson Flame. His thoughts were all jumbled together. 'Why did you help her, Loose? This must be some kind of trap...' His illumination aqua eyes looked over to the Insurance girls. 'Meryl said there was something different about Loose. Could he have changed after I gave him a second chance?' Meryl slammed her fist on the table unexpectanting, making Vash jump.  
  
"I can't take it anymore!" The small woman stood up from her stool, knocking it to the floor. Her small hands gripped the edge of the counter.   
  
"Its ok, I'm sure we'll find them soon. They couldn't have gotten far." Vash tried to comfort her, but he didn't dare touch Meryl in her state of fusteration. Hearing Vash's reassuring voice calmed Meryl down a bit.  
  
"I'm going home." Millie said in that cheerful voice. Meryl was taken aback while Vash raised both eyebrows in question. Meryl blinked a few times to regain her composure.  
  
"You're just giving up?" Meryl asked her tall friend who still sat on her bar stool. Millie shook her head smiling.  
  
"Of course not silly, but I'm sure my Aldreasa will come home when she's ready. She's grown up. There's no point in chasing after her." Millie kept her smile on. Meryl's face had disbelief written all over it, but Vash understood what the tall woman was saying. Millie noticed the look Meryl gave her. "Its not what I want to do, but its what my daughter deserves." Millie roase from her stool. "Are you coming?" Her green orbs looked at Meryl. The petite woman looked down at the ground.  
  
"Lu hasn't grown up yet...Millie, She's not like Aldreasa and can't take care of herself! She's clumsy, childish and-" Millie raised her eyebrow as she put her hands on her hips.  
  
"Just like her father." Milile interrupted with her eyes closed and shaking her head with a smile. Vash smiled and put his hands beind his head.  
  
"She'll find a way to take care of herself. I am her father!" He put his hands on Meryl's shoulders. "Go home with Millie." Vash whispered into her ear. Meryl shook her head and turned to face the blond in protest. "I'll find BayLu and Aldreasa, don't worry." He told her with sympathy and hope in his eyes. Meryl nearly cried at the sight of his sincere face. Instead she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. The small woman knew she couldn't win this fight, not this time.  
  
"Promise to bring her back..." Meryl said with teary eyes. Vash was still stunned that she had embraced him. The humanoid typhoon brought up his arms to wrap around the small woman, huggin her back. "We're not letting you in the house until you do anywas." The moment was over and Vash's face went all sad and his shoulder slumped forward. Meryl turned to leave with Millie.  
  
"B-but Meryl..." He whined. The girls waved him good-bye with smiling faces. Meryl blew him a kiss and winked.  
  
"Come back soon." She said with a tone that mocked Vash. The door closed behind the two women as he sat back down in his bar stool.  
  
"Man, I can't believe they're actually gonna let me run around on my own..." Vash took a sip from his cup. Gabriel came around the bar corner from the kitchen. "Oh, hi Gabriel!" The blond man said with a smile. Gabriel's face was stern as he stood on the other side of the bar.  
  
"I can tell you where Aldy and Lu headed to." He said. Vash's face lit up, but Gabriel held up his hand. "BUT you've got to let me come with you. I want to help find them. They're my friends and I don't want them getting hurt." Gabriel was driving a hard bargain for Vash the Stampede. He had been so used to traveling alone now. Then he came to a conclusion. Vash could wander aimlessly through the desert, hoping by coincidence to find his daughter and Aldreasa OR he could take on a partnership with this young lad who has a lead on where they went to.  
  
"Well..." Vash put his finger to his mouth while Gabriel studied Vash's face, hoping the reply would be the one he expected. "Which way did they head, partner?"  
  
**Two dark bodies stood in the shadows. One was robed from head to toe in strange cloths while the other's metal glistened in the candle light. They were in some kind of cave making it seem night, but there was still daylight on gunsmoke. "Do you understand what to do once the steamer comes, Tivinian?" The one in robes asked the other.  
  
"Kill human woman that travels with Chaos and damage the Chaos that human woman travels with." Its voice was slithering yet gruff. With out another word said, the man in robes turns to leave. The candle light exposed Tivinian's face. It was of metal and flesh. His eyes were souless pits that seemed depthless as they rested in the part metal skull. Wires and bolts were fused together with bones and skin that gave him a sickening look. His nose was shaved down to the bone, almost as though he were a decaying corpse. Tivinian is the first of his kind, a life breathing andriod. He was home made by his master to create a spider into a useful tool. Tivinian would do as the master commanded,but it would not be easy. Master had warned the andriod about his brother. A plant as well and not to be taken lightly. Tivinian would need his own minions to complete this task. Minions, he would create them...  
  
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Dunananana! 


	13. Boring Steamer Ride?

I dont own trigun.   
  
Im so sorry! I forgot to Edit chapter 12. I apologize for the mistakes! Tearron Walker, ur reading my mind on what's gonna happen next...STOP PICKIN AT MY BRAIN!  
  
I took on online quiz for anime pets and im Kuroneko! lol i like it  
  
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**Lu was sitting backwards in a chair. Her face was etched in pain. Charle had a needle and thread out, stitching up Lu's bullet wound. It had been torn larger by the strain the blond had put on it during the attack of Poochy and Darling. Aldreasa's punch hadn't helped it either or the kids tackling her. Lu took in a breath as the needle was pulled through her skin once again. Charle's touch was warm and gentle giving some comfort to Lu. As the needle came back down for the last stitch, a sudden coldness shuddered over Lu's body. It was quite cold as she sat in her black undershirt (which is a sporty tang top) and tattered pants. The needle stabbed her accidently.  
  
"Ouch!" Lu said a little annoyed. Fresh new blood ran down Lu's shoulder. Aldreasa caught the blood with a towel before it hit the ground. She began padding gently. Charle quickly slid through the last stitch, cutting the thread with his pocket knife.  
  
"I'll go find some bandages." He said leaving the room to the girls. Aldreasa waited until the door completely shut after him before speaking.  
  
"Lu, are you sure he's not the real Crimson Flame? He kind of freaks me out..." Aldreasa said as Lu got up to look at the stitches in her back.  
  
"Well, mum did damage reports on the guy and the picture they showed on 'em definately isn't Charle." She touched the wound and winced. "Plus, he got me out of jail, right?" Lu walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a donut from the box Aldreasa had bought earlier.  
  
"I don't trust him. He acts way too calm and did you see the way he shot with the rifle back at Josek's bar?" Lu shook her blond head. "Its like he has the eyes of a hawk! That rifle wasn't the greatest gun in the world, but the BIG thing I can't get off my mind is how the Nebraska Brothers were VERY roughened up from a fight and Mr. Charle Ahles didn't have one scratch on him." Aldreasa told her friend. Lu flopped down on the bed and pulled out another donut. This one was cream filled with rainbow sprinkles. She carefully began eating it to savour the taste. "BayLu are you even listening to me!?"  
  
"YEA!" Lu snapped at her. How dare she ruin this moment of greatness with a CREAM filled donut? The nerve of some people..."You're just paranoid like always! Its always gotta be somethin." Lu mumbled as she looked into the empty box of donuts. It broke her heart everytime she had to see the bottom of a donut box.  
  
"I'm not ALWAYS paranoid! You ALWAYS over-exagerrate! I just think we should be careful around this guy..." She studied Lu's expression as the blond sadly looked into her empty donut box. "Why don't you dig into that mind of his and find out who he really is?" She said tauntingly. The blue eyes looked up in horror.  
  
"Aldreasa! You know I can't do that!" The taller, dark haired girl walked slyly over to where Lu sat. "I almost hurt someone real bad last time. I won't do it again." Lu said as the memories threatened to come back. Aldreasa noticed Lu holding back tears. She sighed as she sat down next to the blond.   
  
"I'm sorry, Lu. I remember what happened the last time you tried to do that...We were at the orphanage and the little boy he-" Lu abruptly got up and turned on Aldreasa.  
  
"Stop it! I don't want to hear about it! Just, go get some donuts! They're all gone." Lu threw the box into Aldreasa's lap as the raven haired girl looked up at her in surprise. Before she could say anything to Lu, the small teenager had ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Aldreasa stalked up to the door and began banging on it.  
  
"Lu! I didn't mean to...I'm sorry! Please come out!" There was no reply from inside. Aldreasa sighed, but then she heard sniffling. Lu was sitting on the cold floor with tears in her eyes. She didn't like to remember the past. It always hurt to know what she had done. There was a knock on the door again. "Lu, come out here. Its ok." Aldreasa was getting a bit irritated. She didn't like it when Lu hid feelings and other things from her. Just then Charle came in through the doors with more bandages and antiseptics. He got a cold look from those green eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?" He asked as Aldreasa picked up her tan jacket, throwing the empty donut box in the garabage. She also picked up the last bit of money on the table. "Aldre-"  
  
"I'm going to get donuts for Lu." She snapped at him, leaving the room. The door slammed behind her. Charle stood there, confused. Setting down the medical supplies, he walked over to the bathroom door. Just as he was about to knock on the door, Lu popped out with blurry eyes. A smile immediately lit up her sad face.  
  
"Oh! You're back. Fix me up, Chuck." She said walking past him. Charle followed and wondered how Lu could slap on a smile and seem to be normal when he knew her and Aldreasa had just fought over something. Compliantly sitting on the chair, Lu tossed her blond hair to the side so Charle could bandage her up. "How come you know how to do all this?" Lu asked so there was no silence.  
  
"My mother was a nurse." Charle said plainly as he carefully wrapped the clean white bandage around Lu's wound. Charle wished he had some medical tape. It makes dressing shoulders a whole lot easier.  
  
"That's so cool!" It was pawky how excited Lu could get over simple things. "Is she still a nurse?" Charle hesitated a moment, but then he remembered what Aldreasa had told him about the young woman. Lu had the ability to hear other's thoughts.  
  
"No." He pinned the bandage together after a few more wraps, not stabbing Lu this time. "She's dead and so is my father. Don't bother asking about it." His voice was a little demanding. "Let me see your arm." Lu looked down at her arm where Short's knife had cut her. It looked infected, but she didn't want Charle pouring anything on it that would case stinging. So, she swung her leg over the back of the chair to stand up.  
  
"Oh, that's nothing. Small scratch." She turned only to get an intense stare from Charle's pale blue eyes. It wasn't until now that Lu noticed he was almost a head taller than her. The look he was giving her made her want to cower down on her knees and beg for forgiveness. His hand gently grabbed her arm and looked at the gash. "See? Nothing, haha..."  
  
"Small scratch?" Charle said sarcastically. The cut was very deep and it covered the entire length of her forearm. The skin around the dirty blackened sticky blood was red and irritated. Lu noticed how disgusting her arm was while Charle examined it. His other hand picked up a bottle marked rubbing alcohol. Lu looked at it in horror.  
  
"Can't we just run it under water!? You don't really have to put that on there do you!?" Charle unscrewed the top of the bottle. Lu hugged her arm tightly to her body. "Please, please please don't pour that on my arm." She tried very hard to give him the best innocent look in the world, but it didn't work on Charle. He dampened a gauze pad with the foul smelling liquid and waited for Lu. Sighing, Lu stuck out her arm with eyes closed.  
  
"AH!"  
  
Aldreasa was walking down the corridors of the steamer looking for somewhere to buy food. Finally after a half hour of searching around the steamer she found a food court. She'd never been on a sand steamer before and she hoped it would be easy to find her way back to the room. Aldreasa began tapping her foot as the big boobed blond behind the counter flirted with the young french man ordering. The dark haired girl coughed. "How may I help you?" The lady behind the cash registered asked.   
  
"Yes." Aldreasa smiled stepping in front of the dark haired man. "May I have a box of donuts." The blond woman reached up and behind her for the box of variety donuts. While she did this the french man that had been flirting was now checking Aldreasa out. A little disgusted and pleased, Aldreasa ignored him.  
  
"Salut beau." He said with a sexy tone. Aldreasa eyed him carefully, returning the flirt. The woman behind the desk was seemingly annoyed as she slammed the box of donuts on the counter.  
  
"That's $$5." She snapped. Aldreasa was about to give her the bits of money she had in her pocket when the french man gave the blond $$5. He winked at Aldreasa who gave a small smile and began walking back towards the room.  
  
'What kind of guy pay a whole $$5 to pick up a girl?' As she walked the french followed after her. Aldreasa wanted to run, but didn't mind the hunk of man walking beside her. 'He's sexy...I'll give him another chance." The man smiled.  
  
"My name's Dominique Kortez, may I have the pleasure of knowing yours?" He asked with a heavy french accent. Aldreasa recalled Kortez being a spaniard's name, but wasn't too sure on her history.  
  
"Aldreasa." She said, rolling her 'r' on the tip of her tounge. Dominique smiled.  
  
"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman." The dark haired man said, gently raising Aldreasa's hand to his lips. She didn't blush, but smiled lightly.  
  
"Don't waste your breath, Dominique." She said cooly, quickening her pace. 'Let's see if Mr. Frenchy is really interested.' Sure enough, Dominique quickened his pace to be by Aldreasa's side. A content smile ringed her lips.  
  
"I'm speaking the truth, Aldreasa." The way he said her name made the girl's heart skip a beat. She smiled at him as they turned a corner. Aldreasa hoped that this was the right corner, but didn't pay much mind. The young woman wouldn't being flattered like this while searching for her room.  
  
"That's very kind of you, Mr. Kortez. To lie is a deadly sin." A smiled twitched on the man's mouth as he pulled Aldreasa to a stop.  
  
"Would it be a sin to kiss you?" His suddeness tunned Aldreasa as he put his arms on the wall her back was up against. She just thought they were firting like the way she did with the boys from school. Boys didn't give this reaction...but men did.  
  
'Aldy! HELP! Charle's gonna-' Lu's voice rang in Aldreasa's head. Her green eyes went wide. "AH!" The dark haired girl ducked under Dominique's arms when she heard Lu's voice from down the hall. Aldreasa ran, dropping the donuts as thoughts raced in her mind.  
  
'I knew that Charle Ahles was no good! Why did I leave Lu alone with him!?' Her hand found the small stun gun in her jacket pocket. When she burst though the door, the scene opened up before her. Charle stood at the opened window with Lu grasping to his arm. "Lu!"   
  
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i like the word pawky ^___^  
  
OF COURSE i'll put ur name in it, Yuki! i like it! Ur gonna b important too!  
  
wont b able to update for a while so im so sorry! 


	14. Super Short Chapter

I dont own trigun.   
  
Thank for reviews! I'LL PUT SARAKU IN!   
  
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Vash the stampede was walking down the road with the same old goofy grin on his face. He had taken off that ugly oncho at Gabriel's request. The curly haired young man was walking about ten paces behind Vash. The outlaw gave him the creeps with his go-happy personality. He just hoped that they could find Aldreasa before anything bad happened to her and Lu. It guilted Gabriel that he had just let her run off with Lu and two strangers.  
  
"Where should we start?" Vash asked. Gabriel jumped when he noticed the Humanoid Typhoon standing close to his left. It nearly gave hte young man his first heart attack.  
  
"Uhm, where do you suggest?" Gabriel watched as the platinum blond thought for a moment. Then a mischeivious cat grin snuck onto his face. Vash's linked his arm with Gabriel's.  
  
"A bar hopping we shall go!" Before they could skip far, a woman was pushed roughly into Vash from around the corner. She and the blond were knocked to the dirt ground. "Oh, hello there, miss." He said as his hand helped the woman to her feet. "Perhaps I can apologize by taking you to dinner?" Gabriel rolled his eyes, but then they were caught by the vicious mob at the sand steamer station.  
  
"NO YOU MAY NOT!" The woman slapped Vash across the face and stormed off. The all to familiar red hand print appeared on the Stampede's face. He rubbed the sore cheek and looked pathetically after the woman.  
  
"What's going on over there?" Gabriel said a little shakened. Vash looked over to see a large group of people pushing, shoving and screaming at one another. It was an army of Vash clones who had just found out the donut shop didn't make donuts anymore.  
  
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STOP! SORRY....  
  
-Before i put Saraku in...is she cocky at all? To people she doesn't know?  
  
Vash and Gabriel will get some action eventually... 


End file.
